The Mirror Image
by Shadow of the Fire Bird
Summary: "You've already chosen to play a part in this war," Shadi whispered as he gently pressed the key to her forehead "now, all you must decide is which side you shall be fighting for."
1. Chapter 1

"_**Our brothers and sisters are there with us from the dawn of our personal stories to the inevitable dusk." **_

_**~Susan Scarf Merrell**_

"Excuse me, are you lost, dearie?" the elderly woman asked, bending over the hunched, black form with a kind smile. Her warm, brown-eyed gaze, however, was met with an intense reddish glare.

"I'm not lost; I'm waiting for my brother!" the small girl snapped as she leapt to her feet and, with an arrogant huff, turned on her heel and stalked off. The woman watched, dumbstruck, as the young girl strutted down the polished tiled floor with far more confidence than her scrawny frame should muster. She cast a threatening glance over her shoulder before finally vanishing into the bustling crowd of Heathrow Airport.

The woman's mistake in believing the girl was lost, or perhaps homeless, was understood. After all, she gave off the appearance of a scrappy and under kept little thing with her wild mane of thick silvery hair that trailed halfway down her back, the bangs of which mostly concealed her olive complexion and fierce crimson tinted eyes. Passerby cast curious momentary glances as the girl weaved her way through the chaotic airport. The girl glanced from left to right at the curious looks.

"Meddling strangers" she whispered as she sank deeper into the flipped up collar of her jacket "they should learn to mind their own business."

"Excuse me miss, but would you care for a lemonade?" a voice from behind the girl called in an exaggerated British accent. The girl whirled around to face a tall young man standing a short distance from her. At first glance, it was obvious that they were related as they shared the same olive-toned skin, long faces, big noses, small eyes, and silvery hair but the similarities stopped there. The young man, although large in height, had a slender form, save his broad shoulders. He had a kind, handsome face that was mostly hidden from the world by his neat shoulder length hair, although a single hazel eye could be seen peering out from behind his shimmering locks. The girl, on the other hand, had features beyond her eyes that were small; she was tiny all around with tiny hands, feet, and ears, although the latter was mostly hidden under a mess of thick, tangled hair. Despite her face rounded with youth, the roughness of her clothes and mess of hair made her look rather intimidating.

"It's about time" the girl whined, planting her hands firmly on her hips.

"My deepest apologies, dear sister" the young man replied, cordially giving his younger sibling a deep bow.

"Drop the act, Pegasus; you're making me sick" the girl snapped, although she smiled "and I'll take that lemonade" she added, reaching up to grasp one of the paper cups.

Pegasus, yes that was the last name of the odd pair whom, to a naïve passerby, would appear to be lost and alone in the middle of London's Airport, but they weren't.

Destiny Genevieve Pegasus knew full well that her brother, fourteen years her senior, Maximilian Jasper Pegasus would always be there for her.

He had to be, to ten year old Destiny, he was all she had.

Destiny's life had, you could say, gotten off to a rough start. With her mother dying in the birth of her, she'd left her two children with their father. But not for long, the poor man had been torn to pieces at the loss of his beloved wife and could not bear to be around the son who shared her face or the daughter he blamed for her death. So, when Destiny was but two months old; their father up and left them to defend themselves against the world.

Never to be seen or heard of again.

Pegasus could have left her as well.

He was a big, strong, and stable boy nearly fifteen years old. He could have gone off into the world, smart as he was, and made a solid life for himself. Could have dumped his baby sister in an orphanage and be done with her. But he didn't. No, as soon as their father abandoned them, the upbringing of Destiny became Maximilian Pegasus's first priority. He was the one whom Destiny spoke her first words to; an infant's derived form of brother ('brud-her') and it was her big brother whom she took her first toddling steps to. It was Pegasus who taught her the ABCs, and who brushed her hair in the morning, only to have the large black bow he'd situated in her scraggly hair yanked out again come noon.

"I'm just not as prim and proper as you, Pegasus" Destiny explained as she dangled herself from the monkey bars.

And it was Pegasus who taught her how to read and write, helped her memorize the multiplication tables up to twelve. It was Pegasus who rocked her to sleep at night and who comforted her from the monsters in the closet or the raging thunderstorms.

He was more than any other person in her life could ever be; a brother, a parent, and above all a best friend.

He was her Pegasus

"Call me Pegasus, Destiny" he had explained kindly as he hoisted a two year old Destiny into his lap "when you have a name like Maximilian; well, let's just say it's somewhat of a mouthful. And Max, well, do I really look like a Max?"

"No, Pegasus" Destiny replied, shaking her head with a giggle.

"So, Pegasus..." Destiny tugged on the sleeve of her brother's crisp dress shirt "where are we going this time?" Pegasus's only response was a sly wink.

"If I told you, it wouldn't be a surprise, now would it?" he asked smugly

"Come on, Pegasus" Destiny whined, jumping and prancing about her brother as he strode down through the growing throng of tourists.

"Now, let's see" Pegasus muttered, purposely ignoring his little sister's pleas with a smile as he tugged out a mess of papers consisting of tickets and passports. "It's gate number E, right?" he asked, glancing from left to right at the various gates.

"Over there" Destiny cried, after a pause, pointing a short way down the hall to where their gate was located.

"Keen eye, baby sis" Pegasus said, giving her shoulders a squeeze and then, without warning, he reached under her knees and hoisted her onto his back. Destiny yelped and squealed with fake pleas for help but the surrounding tourists knew that it was all just fun as the silver-haired siblings made their short walk to their gate a little more fun.

"There you go" Pegasus said, a little breathlessly, as he deposited Destiny into one of the stiff plastic chairs situated in rows just outside the airplane's gate.

"It should be a few minutes" Pegasus added smiling apologetically "do you want anything?" Destiny shook her head with a grin.

"No thanks" she replied brightly.

"Good" Pegasus said as he sank into the chair beside her "I'm tired of walking" he added, tucking his arms behind his head.

Glancing over her brother's shoulder, Destiny spied a pair of college girls giggle and blush as they cast knowing looks at her brother. But Pegasus simply pushed he scally cap down over his eyes and paid them no mind.

_He wasn't expected to though_, Destiny thought with a sigh. _For him, no one could ever replace Cecelia._

Ah yes, Cecelia, Destiny knew everything about her and yet remembered very little of her. She had been but four when Pegasus and his childhood sweetheart; Cecelia, had become engaged and Cecelia had come to live with them. At first, Destiny considered Cecelia to be like a slimy little worm that was about to wriggle its way into the sweet and perfect apple that was the life she and Pegasus had shared. But no, although the apple of Destiny's little life was diced and rearranged Cecelia added sugar and spices that opened up new doors brimming with new ideas.

She made Destiny's life an apple pie.

And, for the first time in her life, Destiny had mother.

But as all good things come, such is the way that they all must go.

It wasn't fair and there was no answer why, but a year after her and Pegasus's engagement, Cecelia fell gravely ill and left this world; going far away where no one could ever reach her again.

It was at that moment that their life apple turned bitterly sour.

When Cecelia died, Pegasus literally fell apart. He didn't smile or laugh; his amber eyes lost their gorgeous sparkle they used to have when he looked into Cecelia eyes.

He never cried though. No, Pegasus would never ever shed any tears; for he had to be strong for his baby sister.

"She's happy now, at least" he whispered as he brushed away Destiny's own brimming tears "gone to a better place, but that doesn't mean I don't miss her."

Destiny had little to go on when she thought of Cecelia herself. Although Pegasus would tell her stories of how they met and such, she had been so young when Cecelia had passed on that she herself had no stories to share, remember, or hold close.

She tried to though; leafing through the pages of her mind, the older she got the harder it became but she managed to collect a few tiny shards that she clung to like fallen leaves as they were threatened to be carried away by the winds of time.

She remembered that Cecelia's hair had been the color of sunshine and as soft as spun silk.

She always wore long flowing dresses whose skirts would ripple all around her like the rolling waves of a crashing sea.

Her laugh was soft and contagious, with a sound like chiming bells or lulling bird song.

Her voice was quiet and sweet;

"of course you can be my maid of honor, Destiny. I wouldn't have it any other way" Cecelia had said, giving the little five year old girl a tender hug.

And how she would always smell of lavender (Pegasus still had a bottle of her perfume.)

But that's about all, Destiny thought with a sigh as she yanked out her sketchbook and began to absentmindedly trace the pen across a blank page.

But, as Pegasus sunk deeper and deeper into the hollow well of grief, he knew that he needed to pull himself together and try to move on somehow.

After all, he had a little sister to raise.

So, as he climbed out of his sorrow filled hole, Pegasus's body tingled with anticipation. He became restless and tired of all that they knew and began to long for something exotic and new.

"I want to see the world, Destiny" he had exclaimed one morning through a mouthful of pancakes "and I want you to too. I want you to have a rich and adventure-filled childhood. So, come on. Let's go have an adventure together!" he'd exclaimed.

And so they began what Destiny called "country hopping." Starting from when Destiny was four, they enrolled themselves in a seemingly endless cycle of stopping in one country in the world and jumping around from hotel to hotel, often only staying in one place for a month or two before Pegasus's eye would catch another and even more foreign place and they would up and leave to the next location.

Destiny had spent two Christmases and her eighth birthday on an airplane.

All the same, Destiny did enjoy traveling the world; never staying in one place for too long, it was fun and interesting to constantly have a change of scenery and often there was so many exciting things going on in wherever they were that exploring the vast arrays and cultures of the world was better than any elementary school field trip.

Because, for Destiny, school was wherever they could find a quiet place to study in whatever country they were currently residing in. Yep, since she'd turned six; Pegasus adapted another role in her life; teacher and sometimes fellow student. For there were so much both of them always learned on their adventures.

But, although Destiny enjoyed the unique and constantly changing life she had, she knew there were only so many countries in the world, only so many adventures she and Pegasus could have. She knew that her big brother did what he did because he was constantly searching; searching for some kind of glue, or perhaps a needle and thread, to stitch back together the tattered shards of his broken heart. Destiny tried to help as best she could, but there was only so much she could do.

_He's searching throughout the world trying to find Cecelia again_, Destiny thought glumly as she rubbed her eraser across the page attempting to smudge out a mistake.

"What are you drawing?" Pegasus asked, leaning over her shoulder.

"A swan" Destiny replied simply as she dug around in her satchel, finally extracting her purple crayon and began running the wax across the page, dying the swan's feathers a vibrant violet. Pegasus raised an eyebrow.

"A purple swan?" he asked.

"Why not?" Destiny inquired, brushing loose wax shards off the page "purple is my favorite color."

"Whatever floats your boat" Pegasus muttered with a shrug as he leaned back against his chair "and it does look nice, very creative. I think I might have some competition" he added with a smirk.

Destiny grinned in response "I doubt I'll ever be as good as you, Pegasus" she replied with a fake sigh "you've had far more practice after all, I shall always be in the shadow of my big brother" she added in an exaggerated woefulness that caused them both to burst out laughing.

"Hmm, maybe I should take up acting" Destiny murmured, staring thoughtfully at the ceiling. True, Destiny did have rather a knack with sketching and shading but when it came to painting Pegasus was a modern Michelangelo. It was his paintings, after all, that kept them both alive when he was in high school, and his landscapes were what provided them with airplane and hotel fare, and they would one day put Destiny through college.

Indeed, Pegasus's landscapes were outstanding; he had done and sold pieces of just about every natural and man-made wonder the world had to offer.

Portraits, however, had always been his preference; although he hadn't done one of those in years as Cecelia had always been his favorite subject.

"Attention ladies and gentlemen flying flight number thirty seven; please make your way to Gate E, so we can begin boarding" the mechanical sounding voice of a stewardess suddenly sounded over the microphone.

"That's our cue" Pegasus said brightly as he gathered up their vast array of baggage. They had quite a few as the basically _lived_ out of them.

Destiny flipped her sketchpad shut and tucked it back into her satchel

"Will you tell me where we're going now?" she pleaded as she got to her feet and gave her brother her best puppy-dog pout.

"Nope" Pegasus replied with a grin, evidently enjoying his sister's impatience.

As the made their way over to the desk before the gate to present their tickets, Destiny cast one last long look around her at Heathrow airport. They'd been in England for about three months now; living in and around London and Destiny had grown quite fond of the thriving country.

"Come on, kid" Pegasus said, jolting her out of her thoughts as he took her hand and led her down the short hallway that would lead them to their airplane.

Destiny fidgeted in her seat, crossing and uncrossing her overall clad legs. She placed her grimy hiking boats and began kicking the seat in front of her irritably like a bratty toddler. This was her least favorite part of flying; sitting about and waiting for the plane to _start_ flying.

"Knock it off" Pegasus hissed irritably in her ear.

"Fine" Destiny snapped, crossing her arms and sinking deeper into her chair. Why did they have to make airplane chairs so uncomfortable?

For lack of anything better to do, Destiny fished into her bag and whipped out a simple black journal that she had gotten for her tenth birthday.

Now, she flipped it open to a section where she kept tabs on every country she and Pegasus had visited.

Quickly she scribbled in a new date and place

_Date: April 17_

_Currently Residing In: London, England_

_Destination:_

Destiny glanced up waiting for the answer.

As if on cue, the airplane pilot came over the microphone:

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome aboard flight number thirty seven, non-stop to Cairo Egypt. In a few minutes we will make our way onto the runway but, until then, we have a few safety protocols to review so just sit back, relax, and we hope you enjoy your flight"

However, as the flight attendant went over what to do in case of an emergency, Destiny didn't listen (she'd heard the memo over a dozen times anyways.)

Instead, she turned to her brother.

"Egypt, huh?" she asked.

Pegasus simply smiled.


	2. Chapter 2

"_**Open your eyes; look within. Are you satisfied with the life you're living?" **_

_**~ Bob Marley**_

Once outside the civilized Cairo, Egypt's capitol, the country became quite primitive (not to mention dirty). However it was the heat that really got to the American born Destiny; it was the kind of heat that did not move, with or without wind. It instead hung in the air in one think and irritable mass that seemed to be everywhere, even in the shadiest of places. The kind of heat that could not only be felt but also smelled and seen rolling and churning before your vision in clouded ripples.

"I feel like I have sunburns on every part of my body" Destiny muttered pushing her soggy bangs off her forehead.

Glancing around, she saw that her brother was already a good distance in front of her, weaving his way expertly through the crowded marketplace.

"Pegasus!" she whined stumbling after him "can't we stop for a second, I can't feel my legs and I'm going to go into torpor from this heat" she called.

Pegasus paused long enough to glance over his shoulder at her and say:

"You're exaggerating."

"Am not!" Destiny cried, huffily placing her hands on her hips "we've been walking for hours and besides your legs are longer than mine."

Pegasus laughed at this.

"Maybe it is time for a break" he said, shrugging.

"Great, and can I have a drink?" Destiny asked as she slumped against a fencepost in the shade of a dusty old bar.

As Pegasus left to fetch them both a glass of water, Destiny leaned her head back and closed her eyes.

She truly was exhausted (the heat had that kind of effect.)

As she waited for Pegasus to return with the water, she glanced around at the shabby little town that they had somehow wound up in.

As soon as they had gotten off of the plane in Cairo, they had checked into the nearest hotel and then Pegasus had rented a used pickup truck. Destiny had climbed in and they just started driving. They kept on driving, and driving, and driving, for what seemed like an eternity in which Destiny had no idea where they were going (and Pegasus probably didn't either.)

Eventually, Destiny had fallen asleep; her feet slumped against the dashboard and when she had awoken the truck had run out of gas right in the middle of this little hovel.

"Remind me again why we came here" Destiny called to her brother, once Pegasus had returned with a cup of water for each of them.

"Well, first off the truck ran out of gas" Pegasus said with a sheepish smile gesturing to the burnt orange vehicle parked at the end of the street.

"I know that" Destiny snapped "what I'm asking is why we haven't filled her up yet? Instead, we've just been wandering around in circles. I mean, this is the fifth time we've passed the car."

Pegasus stared at her

"Are you in some kind of hurry?" he inquired.

"No, of course not" Destiny cried "where would I be hurrying to?"

She laughed at this, but Pegasus did not return it.

"What's wrong?" she asked him.

Pegasus waved his hand dismissively.

"Nothing" he replied.

"It's something" Destiny asserted

Pegasus smiled, marveling at his sister's perception

"You don't really have a home or friends, do you?" he asked.

"I don't mind" Destiny exclaimed hurriedly "you're all the home and friends I'll ever need" she giggled.

Destiny secretly wondered if Pegasus could tell she was partially lying.

It was true that, to Destiny, Pegasus was her world, but that didn't mean she didn't wonder what it would be like to have a real home, and a real school to attend, filled with friends to play with. Those kinds of things she'd only ever read in books.

"Good, never mind then" Pegasus muttered, after a pause, as he hoisted Destiny onto his back for a piggyback ride, getting to his feet in the process.

"All the same; I think this heat is getting to the both of us. So, why don't we fill up the rental and head back to the hotel for some air conditioning and dinner?" he added bending down to collect his canvas and easel.

"Amen to that" Destiny replied pushing a lock of her brother's silver hair off his face.

But, as they turned around to head back to their pick-up truck, the siblings found their path surprisingly blocked by an unusual stranger.

The man was obviously a local due to his darker skin tone and style of dress. He was clothed in a long snowy white robe that fell to his ankles, just revealing a pair of sandaled feet. His head was covered in an absurdly large turban the same color as his robe, the turban blocked almost the entire top of his head from view, save his ears; which were adorned in large hoop shaped earrings. Draped around his neck was a curious ankh cross pendant, held in place by a rope. Glancing at it, Destiny saw that at the end of the cross were two teeth, like that of some kind of key. In the man's hand was a set of empty brass scales. As she surveyed the key and scale, Destiny suddenly felt a strange energy pulsing from the two objects; an energy that made her heart tighten into a knot and her stomach turn somersaults. Destiny glanced over at Pegasus to see if he had felt the same energy, but she was shocked to see that his expression was not that of fear but rather pleasant surprise.

" Hello sir, is there something we can do for you?" Pegasus asked brightly.

The man didn't respond right away he instead stared down at the two siblings with a pair of pupil-less blue eyes that seemed to bore into them with an icy ferocity. Destiny decided right then and there that she didn't like this man, whoever he was.

Finally, the man spoke:

"Heed my advice" he said "you have journeyed far, seeking to heal the ache within your soul."

"Huh?" Pegasus asked clearly confused.

"Take great care" the man continued as he turned to go "the search to heal the pains of a broken heart may only lead to greater heartache."

With this, the turban clad stranger began to walk away.

"Wait!" Pegasus called, setting Destiny down, and taking a step towards the man, "how do you know?"

"It matters not" the man called back, without turning around "go home."

"Pegasus" Destiny whispered, tugging on her brother's sleeve "maybe we should listen to him".

But Pegasus was not paying any attention to his little sister; he was instead staring after the man, who had not quit vanished from view, his hazel eyes were glazed over with a faraway look.

"No" he muttered as he began walking after the mysterious Egyptian "I want to find out who that guy is and how he knows so much about us".

"But Pegasus" Destiny cried as she hung off the sleeve of his shirt "what if he's some kind of psychic? It could be trouble if we were to provoke him".

However, Pegasus still did not listen to his sister. He instead continued walking after the strange man, a good distance behind so as to not be discovered while still half dragging Destiny along who refused to let go of his shirt.

The man strolled through the crowded street in a purposeful stride, he stared straight ahead of him his creepy blue eyes never wavering to either side were their where shoppers and barters of various merchandise.

The man didn't turn a single corner so it was hard for Pegasus and Destiny to follow him without being caught, they had to walk a good distance behind but they were on the brink of losing him in the crowd all the time, Pegasus had to race walk in order to keep up while still having to haul Destiny along in his wake who would not loosen her grasp on his sleeve.

Finally the man came up to a drab one story building made of the usual yellowish mud of most Egyptian commoner homes; he passed through the door-less entrance without pausing for a second.

Destiny stared after him as he vanished into the darkness wondering what business such a curious man could have in a seemingly normal building.

Pegasus stopped for a moment at the doorway, leaning around the frame he peered into the darkness but none of the following room could be made out through the gloom.

"Pegasus" Destiny hissed "please let's stop, I want to go back to the hotel".

But Pegasus continued to ignore her, his eyes were still unwaveringly fixed on the turban clad stranger was just about to vanish from view as he descended down a stone staircase that only seemed to lead into further darkness.

Without hesitation Pegasus crossed the threshold and hurried across the room and down the stairs still staying a good distance behind the man and finally managing to wrestle Destiny off of him as her partially dragging feet was making too much noise.

Destiny glanced down at the staircase before them, it was made of the same mud as the rest of the house and from their current position its end could not be seen.

The man was gone from their sights so Pegasus began to hurriedly make his way down into the shadowy realm beneath the house despite Destiny's whimper of protest, he instead clasped her wrist and told her everything was going to be alright. Although, judging by his tone, Destiny could tell that he wasn't entirely sure that was true.

They descended the stairs for what felt like hours, carefully feeling before them before taking another step as the staircase was practically invisible, sheltered within the darkness. However, like the man that had walked the steps before them; the stairs did not waver but rather continued on, into was felt like forever, in a completely straight line.

Finally the end of the stairs could be seen, illuminated by a flickering light (undoubtedly a candle's doing) coming from a door just behind the step's end. The door was ajar but the following room was so brightly lit that whatever was inside could not be seen. As they reached the bottom of the stairs Pegasus again paused. Without taking his eyes off of the door before them he reached down and gently gave Destiny's shoulders a brief squeeze. And then, taking a deep breath, Pegasus and Destiny slowly crept into the room.


	3. Chapter 3

"_**The eyes of the soul of the multitudes are unable to endure the vision of the divine."**_

_**~Plato**_

The room beyond the door was like something out of Indiana Jones. It was an ancient and eerie Egyptian crypt lit only by flickering torches arranged throughout the massive room. Despite being underground, the room was high ceilinged. It was also long, so that it gave the illusion of some kind of wide hallway. Running along the length of the room, on either side, were several large pillars that would have easily needed at least six people to be able to successfully wrap their arms around their giant bases. The pillars were adorned in faded carvings of signature Egyptian hieroglyphics; symbols such as eyes and birds. On either side of the door were two stone platforms on which rested a pair of giant Egyptian dogs carved of a strange black stone. They sat in the same position as the Sphinx with collars of gold and cold, hollow eyes that stared down upon Destiny with a gaze as fierce as their master's. The man in the turban, who was currently standing at the opposite end of the room, surrounded by still more torches; his gaze transfixed on a large stone altar.

Destiny clenched her hands into fists to prevent them from shaking as she gazed about the room; she was scared, but she wouldn't admit that.

"What is this place" Pegasus whispered, gazing around in awe.

"So, you chose not to heed to my warning" the man called from the other end of the room as he slowly turned to face the siblings.

As he spoke, four sets of hands suddenly shot out of the darkness from whence they came and Destiny barely had time to scream as four men, clothed in similar attire to the man at the altar, roughly grabbed them by the arms and hoisted them off the ground.

"What are you doing?" Pegasus cried "let us go."

"Please, stop!" Destiny screamed "we haven't done anything wrong!"

But the man did not listen to their pleas; he instead turned back around to face the altar. Glancing over his shoulder, Destiny could now see what the man had been observing when they'd entered. It was a carving of a one of the Egyptian gods with several carvings of objects surrounding him.

There was a short, scepter-like staff,

A 3D pyramid shaped puzzle,

A large ring-shaped pendent,

A strange headband like crown,

A curious bracelet,

An ankh cross key,

A set of brace scales,

A mysterious necklace

And, finally, a small golden sphere that somewhat resembled a human eye.

As she stared at the strange carving, Destiny saw that all of the object carvings were indented as though something was meant to be placed inside them to be a perfect fit.

Destiny guessed that the objects the carvings portrayed were real things as well. However, the carving was barren, save the key and scale that the man had been carrying earlier. They were fitted into their appropriate spots. Also, the small golden sphere which the man took from the carving and held it tightly in his fist

"I am the guardian of the Millennium Items" he said as he held the eye aloft "you people are outsiders who have gazed upon the secret of this crypt. The only way you may leave is if you past a test, it must be your fate" the man explained as he slowly walked over to Pegasus and Destiny. The four burly men, that had snagged the two siblings, swiftly dragged their captives over to the base of the altar despite the sibling's attempts to break free.

"Test, what do you mean by test?" Pegasus asked.

The turban-clad man did not answer his question.

"You are the eldest, therefore; you are the one who is to be tested by the Millennium Eye" he said as he walked over to Pegasus and held the sphere in front of his face.

"What are you going to do?" Destiny whimpered as the two men holding Pegasus released him but the others still continued to hold Destiny prisoner.

Pegasus sank to his knees before the man, an expression of pure fear that Destiny had never seen before now clearly visible on his face.

"Tested by the eye itself? But how?" Pegasus asked.

"Each Millennium Item awaits the day its fated possessor crosses its path and punishes those who are undeserving" the man holding the Eye explained.

"Punishes?" Pegasus asked, his eyes wavering to Destiny.

"Yes" the man replied, a frightful gleam flashing in his ice blue eyes, "if you are the one destined to wield the Eye, then it will grant you the power to see more then you could ever imagine. But, if you fail, then all that awaits you is never ending nightmares."

Pegasus's eyes widened and then wavered over to Destiny again, who was still being restrained.

"If I am to be tested, first allow my sister to leave this place" Pegasus said to the man.

The man shook his head.

"That cannot be" he said "your sister shared your act of entering this hidden temple, therefore; she shall share the result of your test; salvation or an ordeal worse than death!"

Then, without warning, he thrust the Millennium Eye into Pegasus's real right eye.

The eye began to glow with an intense bright light but it was soon snuffed out with Pegasus covering it with both hands as his ear-piercing shriek echoed throughout the cavernous room. Pegasus crumpled to the floor, hands clasped tightly around his face as he screamed again, this time longer and louder with intensity enough to make one's blood boil.

"PEGASUS!" Destiny shrieked as she fought vigorously against the two men holding her back from her brother as he writhed in agony at the feet of the turban-clad man.

Kicking and screaming almost as much as her brother, Destiny finally managed to loosen the hold the two men had on her. With more strength then she believed she had, Destiny wriggled free by suddenly bucking her legs and kicking both men in their guts. With a synchronized 'oomf' both men buckled over, clutching their middles as Destiny leapt away and sprinted towards her brother who was lying on his stomach, hands clasped to his eye, still shrieking and moaning in evident agony.

"Pegasus!" Destiny cried again as she attempted to rush to his aid, but she was interrupted by the creepy Millennium Item Keeper.

"Do not interfere" he ordered as he roughly backhanded Destiny in the side of the head, causing her to reel backward and stumble into a lopsided sitting position. As she did so, the back of Destiny's head collided with a brutally hard lump of stone; the Millennium Item Carving. Pure fire erupted within the young girl's brain as thousands of dazzling lights flashed before her eyes. She was hot, then she was cold, and then she couldn't feel anything at all. Warmth was running around her, there was a metallic taste in her mouth. Sticky substances were seeping into her thick hair and fanning out staining the stone.

Blood,

Warm and familiar blood

It traced its disturbed path across the eroded tablet, seeping into its cracks.

Red, there was so much red. It was all that Destiny could see. She could no longer hear or even think straight.

All she knew was the blood, the stone, and her pain.

Blood on stone

Red on gold

Haze and lights as everything began to slowly drift away

She was going, going, going.

She was gone.


	4. Chapter 4

"_**Any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomforts."**_

_**~Arnold Bennett **_

A blinding white light broke across the darkness of Destiny's unconsciousness. She cringed away from the light, surprised at its presence.

Why was this light invading her darkness?

There is no day in her supposed night.

Perhaps she was dead? Yes, that would be the only solid explanation.

But how did she die?

Her memory was nothing more than a clouded haze. She attempted to discover the cause of her death by analyzing herself but her body had gone completely numb.

She could feel nothing but pain. Oh yes, there was pain alright.

A violently sharp knife that traced patterns along the back of her skull; this pain must be the cause of her death.

The light was growing wider, stretching its waves across her mind to shroud out the shadows; she tried to reach towards the light but her arm felt heavier than lead.

The light grew brighter but Destiny did not recoil.

Perhaps it will end the pain.

Yes she could almost hear Cecelia:

It's okay, Destiny, sweetheart. Don't cry, it's just a little scrape. I'll bandage it up for you. There, all better. Now, why don't you get back on that swing and, this time, I'll push you. I'll take you straight up to the moon, Destiny.

Destiny,

Destiny,

Destiny,

Destiny!

Destiny's eyes half opened to meet a vibrant artificial light and a familiar voice urgently calling her name.

"Come on, Destiny, you have to wake up" Pegasus cried.

"Pegasus?" Destiny asked weakly, reopening her eyes, despite their protest against the light. They wavered around the blue room, fuzzed and fogged from her fatigue, searching for her brother.

"Pegasus, where are you?" Destiny murmured groggily, trying to turn her head but it hurt too much.

She felt a hand clasp her shoulder.

"I'm right her, sis" Pegasus replied, leaning into her field of vision. As the haze dissipated, his face sharpened and she could see his relieved smile half hidden by the right side of his hair which draped before his eye concealing it, like curtains, from view.

His eye, the Eye, the Millennium Eye!

"Pegasus" Destiny cried, sitting bolt upright in the hospital bed "Are you alright? What's going on? Where are we? What happened to that creepy turban man?" her entourage of questions was cut short when the venom of pain writhing in the back of her skull throbbed quite suddenly, causing her to sink back into the comfort of her pillow.

"Hey whoa, calm down" Pegasus said, gently placing a hand on her fluttering chest "it's okay, we're okay."

"But what happened?" Destiny asked, massaging the back of her head which she discovered to be expertly bandaged.

"What happened?" she repeated in a whisper.

"What's the last thing you remember?" Pegasus asked.

Destiny scrunched up her face in an attempt to recall what had occurred before she'd been knocked out.

"You were being tested by the Millennium Eye, you were in pain, and I tried to help you, but then I…" Destiny's voice trailed off.

"Well" Pegasus said with a sheepish smiled "I passed the test" he pulled back his hair from his face to reveal the Millennium Eye that was now lodged into his socket; replacing his real eye. Destiny's mouth fell open.

"Oh my god!" she cried "how did that happen?"

"I told you, I passed the test of the Millennium Eye" Pegasus explained, grinning at his sister's shock "and Shadi was right, this Eye does allow me to see more than ever before" he added

"Who's Shadi?" Destiny asked.

"Shadi is the Keeper of the Millennium Items, as well as the Wielder of the Millennium Key and Millennium Scale; he was the man who gave me the Eye."

"Creepy turban guy?" Destiny asked.

Pegasus nodded as he leaned in close.

"And guess what, Destiny" he whispered "with this Eye; I can read minds."

Destiny stared at her brother for a full minute and then said:

"Uh Pegasus, I think that hunk of gold lodged in your skull may be poisoning your brain cells. You can't read minds, nobody can; it's just make believe."

"No I can read minds and I can prove it too you" Pegasus replied "go ahead Destiny, think of something random."

"Pegasus…" Destiny began but he cut her off.

"Don't argue, just do it, and make sure it's specific" he ordered.

Destiny sighed.

"Fine" she murmured, closing her eyes and scanning her brain for a memory.

The first thought that came to her was the first time her older brother had taken her to the beach. It had been the summer before Cecelia had died and she and Pegasus had decided to take a week's vacation on Cape Cod where Cecelia had grown up. It had been one of the warmest weeks of the summer and the trio had gone down the beach every day that week. But the first day of their vacation was what had stuck with Destiny the most. How she was so dumbstruck at the sheer velocity of the rolling, crashing sea, so calm and yet so volatile at the same time. Her little four year old mind could hardly comprehend the magnitude of it. She remembered how she'd squealed in delight and skipped down the boardwalk in her little purple swimsuit and white sun hat.

She remembered how Cecelia had called to her not to go far and how Pegasus and her then went off to build a sandcastle fit for a princess (with Destiny being the princess.) How she and Cecelia collected shells and waded in the icy New England water. How she and Pegasus had chased the gulls and skipped rocks across the waves. Finally, she remembered how the day had ended with Pegasus painting a portrait of Cecelia and Destiny watching the sun set.

And Pegasus described the entirety of Destiny's memory in vivid detail as though he was watching it on a movie reel.

Destiny reopened her eyes and stared up at her older brother into his one normal hazel eye and the other Millennium Eye which was now glowing pale gold.

"Pegasus, you're scaring me" she whispered, drawing her knees up into her chest.

"Hey, don't be like that" Pegasus said gently as he leaned in again to hug her "I'm still me, just a little different, that's all" he reached down and pecked her a kiss on the forehead "I know things have changed but they've changed for the better" he added.

"Promise?" Destiny asked

"Promise" Pegasus replied.

As Destiny snuggled into her big brother's chest, she took the time to observe where they were. It was obviously a hospital room as it was very clean and plain with a bed, a chair by the open window, shrouded in silky curtains, next to Pegasus's half-finished painting of Cairo's skyline.

"That's payment for our hospital bill" Pegasus explained when he saw Destiny looking at it "which reminds me, I better finish it" he added, getting to his feet and walking over to his easel.

As he did so, Destiny gazed out the open window out into the deep indigo sky still faintly tinted with shades of tropical orange and blush pink.

"Pegasus?" she asked thoughtfully "is this a dream?"

Pegasus smiled as he picked up his paintbrush and dipped it into the dark blue

"No Destiny, I'm afraid it's not."


	5. Chapter 5

_**Every legend, moreover, contains its residuum of truth, and the root function of language is to control the universe by describing it."**_

_**~James A. Baldwin **_

Destiny slowly reached for another chocolate-covered strawberry while still not taking her eyes off of her worn copy of Robert Louis Stevenson's _Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde._ She'd read the book already at least four times and in some pretty weird places, but the bathtub was her favorite place to read anything.

Destiny quickly dabbed her chocolate streaked hand on a nearby towel before turning the page of _Jekyll and Hyde_.

She'd been soaking in the foamy water of the hotel bath, with a head full of fluffy blue shampoo, for almost an hour now, absorbed in her book as well as a heaping platter of her favorite dessert. But, despite her comfort, Destiny was still oddly tired; her eyelids kept drooping and she could barely keep her head from nodding against her chest.

At the thought of her chest, Destiny's free hand absentmindedly brushed against it; tracing her fingers across the Mark.

She'd had the Mark since she had been born and the doctors had diagnosed it as nothing more than a birth mark that just so happened to be blacker then night and perfectly shaped like the head of a cobra.

"It hasn't killed you yet, Destiny. I'm sure it's nothing" Pegasus always reassured her when she brought up her mild concerns about the Mark, So, she often thought very little about the 'cobra on her chest', and yet it still made her uneasy sometimes.

Gosh, she was tired. Her eyelids stung from the strain of being forced open and her arms felt like they were made of cement. Perhaps she'd been soaking in the water too long, Pegasus had warned her that too much hot water was bad for your heart.

Maybe she'd had enough, maybe she…

_He was running down a long dark hallway, the only sound being the hurrying footsteps of his sandaled feet echoing against the damp stone walls. All around him was darkness and shadows; the kind that most kids his age afraid but he felt no fear towards the dark. He was used to it. It was where he played games with his sisters and brother and right now he was 'it' in their game of tag. _

"_I'm coming to find you" he called down into the gloom._

Destiny's head snapped up with a violent jerk. Her eyes widened and she looked around rapidly, spraying wisps of shampoo around the tub.

For a moment she forgot where she was.

For a moment she forgot _who _she was.

Oh, she was being silly. She was ten year old Destiny Pegasus and she had spent a little too much time in one of Cairo Egypt's hotel bathtubs. All the same, Destiny still felt very strange, her skin felt too tight all of the sudden and she itched all over. Quickly, she leapt from the tub and, setting _Jekyll and Hyde_ down on the toilet seat, washed the shampoo out of her hair by leaning over the sink and dressed herself in her dark blue PJs.

Still a little shaken, but trying to return to a state of calm, Destiny put on a relaxed face and, toweling off her hair, strode into the main room of their hotel suite where Pegasus was curled up on his bed with his laptop laid across his knees.

He looked up when she entered.

"You were in there for a long time, Destiny" he observed casually.

"Yeah, well, I kind of dozed off, I think" Destiny replied, grabbing the brush from the nightstand and running it through her damp silver hair.

"Oh, well, I've been doing research on these Millennium Items" Pegasus explained scrolling through his current site "most of its legend but, according to this, there are nine Millennium Items in total and they were forged over five thousand years ago in Ancient Egypt."

"So; you have a five thousand year old piece of metal lodged in your skull?" Destiny asked, setting the brush down and moving towards the bed.

Pegasus glanced up from his computer with a pensive look on his face as though that thought hadn't really occurred to him.

"Yeah, I guess so, anyway" Pegasus replied, brushing his hair over his face to conceal the Millennium Eye "legend has it that the Millennium Items were originally wielded by great Magicians and Sorcerers, one was even wielded by a Pharaoh."

"Which one?" Destiny asked, lying down across the bed and leaned over the side to search through her satchel for her sketch pad.

"It doesn't say" Pegasus replied "but this site does mention that these Items had an awful lot to do with an ancient Egyptian ritual known as the Shadow Games."

Destiny stopped her rummaging.

"The Shadow Games?" she asked.

Something about that name made Destiny feel strange inside as though she was forgetting something important.

"Yes, the Shadow Games were games played by Pharaohs and Magicians by summoning powerful Monsters from a world parallel to our own called the Shadow Realm" Pegasus continued "these games were important to the Egyptians. A lot was staked on them. From power, money, entire kingdoms, even their very lives."

A shiver ran up Destiny's spine as she extracted her sketch pad from the depths of her bag and sat up on the edge of the bed. Flipping the pad open to a new page she began to sketch a detailed drawing of the dark hallway she'd seen in her dream. She didn't want to forget, and the details were already beginning to slip from her mind like grains of sand from one's hands. For some reason, the hallway seemed important.

"What are you drawing?" Pegasus called.

"A hallway" Destiny replied, without looking up from her drawing. Pegasus leaned over her shoulder

"Sort of looks like an Egyptian tomb" he muttered thoughtfully "where did you see this?"

"I dreamed it" Destiny replied "makes sense, I've had Egypt on the mind a lot lately."

"Looks pretty old" Pegasus muttered "the person buried in it must have lived and died thousands of years ago"

Destiny stared down at her drawing, a sudden thought occurring to her

"Pegasus" she asked "do people live down in tombs?"

Pegasus raised an eyebrow

"I doubt it Destiny, tombs are where Egyptians buried their dead, after all. It's not really a desirable living spot."

"No, I guess not" Destiny whispered.

Pegasus arched an eyebrow.

"Why do you ask?"

"I was just wondering" Destiny replied with a shrug "so, what else does it say about the Shadow Games?" she changed the subject.

Pegasus turned back to his laptop.

"It says that the Shadow Games were stopped because their power became too strong to control."

"What happened to the Millennium Items?" Destiny asked.

"I'm looking, I'm looking" Pegasus muttered, scrolling through the article but when his eyes fell on a certain paragraph he stopped dead.

His eyes widened, a look of pure shock on his face.

"What is it?" Destiny asked but her brother did not respond "Pegasus, are you okay?"

"Destiny" Pegasus whispered "it says here that the Millennium Items have, locked within them, an unstoppable force known as One True Power and when the Items are combined as one their One True Power can accomplish anything. They could even conquer death itself."

Destiny's mouth fell open.

For a moment there was complete silence between them.

"B-but that's impossible" Destiny finally cried "that kind of stuff doesn't exist, right?"

"Something like this wasn't supposed to exist either" Pegasus replied quietly pulling back his hair to reveal the Eye.

"Yeah, but revive the dead? That seems so far-fetched" Destiny whispered.

Pegasus set his laptop down next to the bed and placed his head in his hands, trying to mull the idea over.

When he reemerged to look at his sister, he was grinning and, for a moment; Destiny thought she saw that same sparkle appear in his eyes that she hadn't seen in years.

"Destiny, do you know what this means?" he asked his voice tight with excitement.

Destiny's hands flew to her already gaping mouth.

"Oh my god, Pegasus! If we could find the other Items then we could bring Cecelia back!" she cried.

"Yes, yes, yes" Pegasus exclaimed, pulling his sister into a bone crushing hug "if we could locate the other eight then we can bring Cecelia back and we can move back to America, stop country hopping, and we can be a family again" he whispered in her ear.

"Really?" Destiny asked, feeling tears brimming in her eyes. She could go to a real school, have real friends that could come over for a sleepover at her real house, go trick or treating on Halloween for the first time, have a real Christmas tree, and the best part was that Cecelia would be back and they'd all be together again.

"Yes, really" Pegasus replied, releasing her from the hug, tears of his own trailing down his face as he ran his fingers through her hair.

"So, we have the Eye, but not the other Items" Destiny said "so, what happened to the Items after the Shadow Games stopped?"

Pegasus snatched his computer off the bedside table and scanned the article vigorously.

"It says the Millennium Items were lost to the ages" he finally stated.

"Well, that's a lie" Destiny scoffed "it appears that the Millennium Items have found new Wielders"

Pegasus nodded in agreement

"Yes, I now possess the Millennium Eye while the Item's Keeper, Shadi, Wields the Key and Scale"

"Yeah, but that's only three" Destiny said, setting her pad down and scooting closer to her brother "so, who has the other six?"


	6. Chapter 6

"_**An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered."**_

_**~ Gilbert K. Chesterton**_

"You sure this is the place?" Pegasus asked, pushing the brim of his fedora off his brow.

"I think I'd remember the place where I'd split my skull open" Destiny replied, rubbing her still bruised head as she strode up to the door-less entrance.

"Now, where was that entrance to the crypt again?" Destiny mused as she leaned over the threshold, squinting into the shadows.

"It was down a flight of stone steps" Pegasus replied, brushing past her and into the dark room.

"Pegasus, wait! What if we run into Shadi"? Destiny cried.

"Then, we ask him for the Millennium Key and Scale like we planned" Pegasus replied "why, are you scared?" he asked.

"Maybe" Destiny replied, shrinking back around the doorframe.

"Destiny, there's nothing to worry about. I promise Shadi's not going to hurt you again. I'll make sure of it" he glanced around the room "hey, got a light?" he added.

Destiny passed him a flashlight, which he clicked on, and swept around the room

"Now, if my memory serves me, the staircase is right over here" Pegasus muttered, flashing the beam over to the corner of the room.

"What the-?" Destiny cried.

The floor was bare.

"Okay, that doesn't make any sense" Pegasus murmured, bending down and knocking sharply on the mud floor "it was right here."

"Where did the staircase go?" Destiny asked, stumbling into the room "it couldn't have just vanished into thin air; that doesn't make any sense."

"Yeah, well, in our current situation practicality isn't in our best interest" Pegasus replied as he straightened up and trailed the flashlight for one last survey of the room.

"Excuse me, can I help you with something?" a voice in a think Arabic accent asked from the door. Both siblings whirled around to face an elderly man standing in the doorway. He was scraggly and poor-looking with a scruffy grey beard, and he leaned on a crooked walking stick, but his eyes looked kind.

"Uh" Pegasus stuttered.

"Would you perhaps be considering purchasing this building?" the man asked.

"No, um" Pegasus started to reply but the man cut him off

"Shame, this old place. No one's lived here for close to fifty years. It's been kept in surprisingly good shape though" the man explained, glancing around the empty room "is something wrong?" he added when he saw Destiny and Pegasus's horrified expressions.

Destiny turned to her brother and raised her eyebrows in a silent gesture. Pegasus nodded slightly, pulling back his hair to reveal the Millennium Eye. The Eye glowed faintly and the man took a step back; his own eyes wide with shock.

"He's not lying or under any kind of spell" Pegasus finally said as he lowered his hair to once again conceal the Eye.

"I beg your pardon, are you okay?" the man stuttered

"No, not at all" Pegasus replied with a grim smile "but, uh, thank you, sir. You were a big help" he added distractedly, slipping past the man and out onto the sun-baked street with Destiny close behind.

"Um, glad I could be of service" the man called after them, obviously confused, as Pegasus and Destiny threaded through the crowd.

"So, what do we do now?" Destiny asked, having to jog to keep up with her brother. She could tell he was agitated; he always walked fast when he was mad.

"I don't know" Pegasus replied, his brow creasing.

"It doesn't make sense" Destiny whispered "how could an entire crypt suddenly disappear like that?"

Pegasus turned to look down at his sister.

"I think the question we should be asking ourselves is: was it even there to begin with?'

Later that day, Destiny lay on her hotel bed, with a mild case of heat stroke.

"Sorry Destiny, we spent too much time in the sun" Pegasus whispered sheepishly as he applied a cool cloth to Destiny's throbbing forehead.

"No big deal" Destiny croaked, brushing his hand away "go finish your painting."

Pegasus nodded as he turned to leave.

"Call me if you need anything, okay?" he asked.

Destiny's only response was a tired nod.

Pegasus left the room, leaving Destiny alone with only the silence and her hazy thoughts.

She groaned, mostly from boredom, but she couldn't bring herself to do anything. Her eyes and head hurt too much. In fact her entire body ached all over.

She felt like she was being split apart.

Split apart

Split

Ripped,

Ripped apart.

She was being ripped apart!

Why was he doing this?

It wasn't fair!

She was being shredded into a million pieces!

Stop it, please, it hurts!

Destiny's eyes snapped open. She wasn't even aware that she'd close them. Had she been dreaming again? If so, it was the strangest dream ever. She didn't see or hear anything, only felt. And what she felt was pain; unbearable pain and betrayal; deep, deep, betrayal.

Confused, Destiny slowly sat up and stared around the room. She worried that maybe that severe blow to the head had disrupted some area of her brain. After all, she'd been having very weird thoughts and dreams.

Thoughts and emotions that were alienated in her brain.

As though, for a few moments, she was someone else entirely. Oh, great now she was having identity issues.

Despite her headache, Destiny managed to crawl over to the edge of her bed and pull open the top drawer in her nightstand. Carefully, she extracted a large and ornately carved hand mirror with a beautiful gold trim and tiny pink roses woven into the design. It was gorgeous and it was Destiny's greatest treasure as it was the last gift Cecelia had given her before her death. Destiny gazed into her reflection, eyes shifting around her familiar facial features.

"Oh Cecelia, what's going on?" Destiny asked the mirror.

Of course there was no answer (not out loud anyway) but Destiny always held the mirror when she was confused or scared.

"I guess I'm kind of overreacting" Destiny finally said "I mean, everyone has weird dreams and, well, with everything going on my brains probably overexerted."

But Destiny still had the sinking feeling that there was far more to her situation than that.


	7. Chapter 7

"_**My mind withdrew its thoughts from experience, extracting itself from contradictory throng of sensuous images that it might find out what that light was wherein it was bathed…and thus, with the flash of one hurried glance, it attained to the vision of That What Is."**_

_**~Saint Augustine**_

Destiny's first 'attack' came quite suddenly and in the most inconvenient of places. It had been at the airport; she and Pegasus had been leaving Egypt to return to London and gather some more supplies for a long distance research stay in Egypt. They had left a lot of their savings in a London bank as they'd been planning to return to the country for the summer anyways.

"Hurry up, Destiny, or we'll miss the flight" Pegasus called back to her.

"I'm coming, Pegasus" Destiny replied groggily.

She felt terrible; as though someone had detached her head and re-screwed it on backwards, but she was probably just tired. It was barely five in the morning after all.

But still, the more she walked the worse she felt. Her legs dragged behind her almost as bad as her rolling suitcase, her head swam with her thoughts rocking on stormy waves. She glanced at the people moving about her, they were being so very loud. With their hurrying feet and relentless jabbering, but she was used to crowds.

So, why was it bothering her so much today?

Then her head began to hurt, violent flashes of lightning that stabbed again and again against her skull.

Another headache, worse than any she'd had before.

Destiny stopped dead, hands pressed firmly to both of her temples. Her vision was flitting in and out of focus, rocking and rolling, her thoughts coming in uneven waves. It was making her nauseous like she was sea sick.

"Destiny, are you okay?" Pegasus asked, but Destiny barely heard him.

And then she saw it…

Standing in the middle of the crowd of tourists was a girl; a girl who was not rushing about like the other people in the airport. No, she was simply standing there, grinning from ear to ear, and she was looking right at Destiny. Destiny stared dumbstruck at the girl, who almost seemed to fade slightly in and out of focus as though she wasn't real but rather some kind of mirage. The girl was obviously Egyptian, with the signature tanned skin and even the old fashioned liner framing her eyes. Eyes that sparkled with a striking lavender, mostly hidden by ash blonde hair. She was dressed in an off-white smock and no shoes.

Destiny gazed at the girl as she flickered yet again and then the girl laughed.

_Come on, Marik. You can do better than that_, she called.

_My name's not Marik_, Destiny wanted to say but her tongue felt as though it was glued to the top of her mouth.

_I thought we were playing tag, you won't even catch Ishizu at the rate your running, stop messing around,_ the girl continued, placing her hands on her hips.

_What are you talking about!_ Destiny cried in her mind, _who are you?_

The girl laughed again and then turned on her heel and ran a few paces down the hall. As Destiny watched the girl, she seemed to be running in slow motion. Her body once again flickering in and out of focus; also she was running right through anyone who crossed her path.

Destiny stared after her.

Was she a ghost?

Again the girl turned around.

_Hello, Earth to Marik, you are 'it'. Remember?_

"Yes, I am it" Destiny replied but it was in a voice that was not her own "I am coming, Selket" she added.

Destiny could faintly hear Pegasus shouting at her from the background but his voice sounded very, very far away.

Destiny was obviously hallucinating. Was she was losing her mind?

Destiny's insides churned; mixing together a frothing concoction of confusion, surprise, and fear.

Then Destiny deposited the mixture onto the tiled floor of the airport in the form of vomit.

"Destiny!" she heard Pegasus cry in alarm.

At the same time the girl, Selket, called:

_Marik, let's go!_

"Coming" Destiny mumbled stumbling blindly forward with little spots splotching across her vision "I am coming…"

"_You will have to do better than that" Selket called to Marik as he raked his hands through nothing but air, just barely missing his sister's shoulder. Siblings who bore the same face, ash hair, and lavender eyes sprinted down the dark, damp hallway of an Ancient Egyptian Tomb._

_Selket reached the end of the hall to find a dead end. She whirled around to face her brother. _

"_I am going to get you" Marik yelled to his sister, wiggling his fingers threateningly._

_Selket squealed with pretend fright as Marik pounced upon her and then began to tickle his sister vigorously. _

"_No, stop it. Stop it!" Selket pleaded through peals of laughter._

_Marik reared back with a satisfied smirk that gave his tanned face a wolfish look. _

"_You are it" he said definitely. _

"_Alright, you got me" Selket replied, raising her hands in silent surrender as she sat up. _

"_Marik, are you attacking your sister again?" a voice from down the hall called. The two siblings turned to see an older girl striding towards them. She was clothed in a long white dress with silky ebony hair framing her tanned face and crystal blue eyes that sparkled pleasantly out of the gloom of the hall. _

"_Hello, Ishizu" Marik replied getting to his feet "want to play, sister?" he asked grinning_

_Ishizu laughed "Play? It looked more like a battle. You ought to be more careful with Selket, Marik. You are the older twin."_

_She didn't sound serious with this scold. It seemed obvious that Selket could take care of herself. _

"_He is older than me, but not mentally" Selket replied, getting to her feet as well._

_Ishizu laughed again while Marik lightly punched his twin sister in the shoulder. _

"_By the way, father says it is time for your lessons" Ishizu said to Marik._

_Marik threw his head back and groaned dramatically. _

"_Really? These studies are a pain in the neck" he moaned. _

"_Suck it up, brother; you will live" Selket replied, patting her brother on the head as the three children made their way down the eerie hallway._

_At the end of the hall, they turned a corner and passed a doorway leading into a dimly lit room. Marik and Selket paused to peer inside. The room was made of a worn stone and lit only by candles, which surrounded a small stone table where three gold objects were laid out in a straight line._

_A head band _

_A rod, _

_A necklace._

_Each had an Eye of Wdjat carved onto them and each radiated a mysterious and powerful energy._

_Marik and Selket turned to smile at each other._

"_One day, those will be ours" the two children said in unison._

Destiny awoke with a scream of surprise, sitting bolt upright in yet another hospital bed.

"Whoa, whoa take it easy" Pegasus cried, pressing a hand to her chest to stop her from flying out of the bed.

"What's going on? What's happening?" Destiny asked frantically.

"You tell me" Pegasus replied, sitting back down in the seat next to her bed.

Destiny took one look at her brother and burst into tears.

"P-Pegasus, I-I think I'm l-losing my m-mind" she cried, burying her face in her hands.

"Hey, no you're not" Pegasus whispered, gently wrapping his arm around his sister's shaking shoulders and drawing her close.

"Yes, I am!" Destiny yelled, brushing her brother's arm away "I'm seeing stuff and hearing voices. I'm going insane!"

"What do you mean?" Pegasus asked.

Destiny raised her face from her hands and gazed up at her brother was a forlorn, tearstained gaze. "I saw a girl at the airport, she was calling to me, but it was as though I was someone else. She called me by the name of her brother. Then I collapsed and I was there with her and her brother and sister in the tomb watching them play tag."

"The same tomb you drew a picture of the other day?" Pegasus asked.

Destiny nodded.

"This is the second time I've dreamed about it. But now, Pegasus; I think it might not be just a dream."

Pegasus raised an eyebrow.

"You mean, you think that the place and people you saw are real?" he asked.

Destiny nodded again.

"I saw three of the Millennium Items in the dream" she explained "the Band, Necklace, and Rod."

Pegasus leaned his head back, the same way Marik had done, and sighed. He then pulled back his hair to reveal the Millennium Eye.

"Do you care if I take a peek into your mind?" he asked.

Destiny nodded.

"Yes" she whispered.

Pegasus stared.

"Yes, I can or 'yes' you care?" he asked.

"The second one" Destiny whimpered "no offense, Pegasus; but your mind reading freaks me out. I don't like having you in my head. It feels too weird to me."

Pegasus stared at her for a moment, but then his expression softened.

"Alright, if you don't want me to read your mind then I won't" he stated, lightly ruffling her hair "then why don't you just tell me what you saw then?"

In a whirlwind, Destiny relayed to her brother what she'd seen in her dream that wasn't a dream.

Pegasus was stoic and silent throughout her entire explanation, not asking a single question. He remained as such, even after Destiny had finished.

Destiny watched him.

"Well?" she demanded.

"This is…this is certainly peculiar" Pegasus muttered "two Items, you saw these children and those two Millennium Items…"

He stopped talking aloud there but Destiny could still sense the thoughts churning in his mind. Why is he so quiet? Does he think there is something wrong with me?

Destiny felt panic twisting in her stomach.

_I don't understand this; I want to know if something is wrong._

Destiny's nails curled around the thin sheets surrounding her.

It happened so suddenly, like putting a video in fast forward.

Neither saw it but both felt it; an invisible hand that suddenly shot out of Destiny's mind, like a coiled spring, and latched onto her brother's.

Pegasus's jaw dropped.

Destiny's did too when she heard.

_What on earth, that felt very strange…_

"Pegasus!" Destiny exclaimed, squirming as she wrestled with the mind hand "I heard that, I heard you in your mind!"

Pegasus didn't respond right away. His hands flew to the sides of his head and he buckled over, gritting his teeth.

"Pegasus! Oh my god!" Destiny cried, starting forward with arms outstretched.

"I'm fine" Pegasus winced "just stop knocking it around, that hurts."

"Knocking what around-" Destiny stopped. It was like flexing an invisible muscle.

The hand was there, gently stroking the top of Pegasus's thoughts.

It could dig deeper if it wanted, if Destiny wanted.

_Destiny, can you hear me_? Pegasus's thoughts transmitted into her own, as though he was a voice on the other end of a telephone.

_Yes,_ Destiny cautiously replied, _loud and clear._

_Neat_

_Don't 'neat' me! What does this mean?_

_Calm down, it's okay_, Pegasus reassured her. _Heck, it's better than okay!_

_What are you talking about? _

Pegasus grinned.

"Destiny…" he whispered.

"Pegasus?" she replied.

He took a deep breath.

"Destiny" he repeated "you're a telepath too."


	8. Chapter 8

"_**Magic, is believing in yourself, if you can do that, you can make anything happen."  
**__** ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe**_

There was complete silence. Destiny stared at her brother with horror filled eyes; now beginning to question _his_ sanity as well.  
"I'm a telepath?" Destiny whispered "as in; I can read minds too?"  
Pegasus nodded solemnly.  
"Yes, you apparently are. That 'hand' that came out of your mind? It reacted on its own because you don't know how to control it. But, I bet it would respond to you if you practiced."  
"But I'm different then you" Destiny cried "I don't have a Millennium Item and you don't pass out when you read minds."  
"Well, that's simple" Pegasus replied "you read minds at a deeper level. Instead of simply looking into their thoughts, like me, you actually travel into their very beings and look at the world through their eyes. Also, you seem to be able to do it at a long distance whereas I have to be looking at the person in order to see their thoughts."  
Destiny leaned back against her pillow, suddenly feeling very faint. If her stomach hadn't already been emptied; she was sure she'd have thrown up.  
"But, Pegasus" she murmured "why can I read minds without the aid of an Item?"  
Pegasus shrugged.  
"I don't know for sure, but I do have a theory" he paused but Destiny didn't say anything so he continued "well, I've noticed that you started having these dreams and headaches after you received that head injury. So, my theory is this; perhaps bleeding on that sacred carving of the Millennium Items somehow caused you to attain the Item's powers."  
Destiny stared at her brother.  
"Don't look at me like that. I know it's not very realistic but it's the only theory I've got and yours is that you've lost your mind so.."  
"Hold on, what are the powers of the Items?" Destiny interrupted  
Pegasus raised his eyes to the ceiling.  
"I'm not entirely sure. Although, I do know that no two Items have the same power" he replied  
"and you think I got all of them?" Destiny asked.  
Pegasus shrugged again  
"It's a possibility. I mean; you only have telepathy and a weak form of soul reading at the moment but-"  
"Whoa, whoa back up" Destiny cried, sitting up in her bed again "soul reading?"  
"Well, yeah" Pegasus replied "you can look at the world through another's eyes. If you practiced, I bet you could read their emotions and feelings. You know, their souls."  
"This is crazy" Destiny muttered, pressing a hand to her forehead and closing her eyes.  
She felt Pegasus's hand, gentle and subtle, upon her shoulder.  
"You need to relax, Destiny" he whispered to her "you're not the only one. How do you think I felt when I started spontaneously hearing people's thoughts?"  
Destiny opened her eyes and looked up at her brother.  
"Not everyone is like this, Destiny; you were given this gift for a reason." 

Pegasus took to Destiny's newfound powers better than she did. Destiny didn't really know how she should react to her current situation, but Pegasus did.  
"Don't you see, Destiny? This is perfect!" he had said as they'd left the hospital "if you can read minds at a long distance, then you can connect to the Wielders of the Millennium Items and we'll be able to track them down."  
"Do you really think I'll be able to do that, Pegasus?" Destiny was skeptical.  
"You did it once, I'm sure you can do it again."  
So, immediately afterward, Pegasus put Destiny on strict training sessions in which she practiced latching her mind hands onto people in their immediate area.  
This came easy to Destiny; she picked it up as easy as Pegasus with his Millennium Eye. As long as she was looking at the person, their thoughts could be heard.  
However using her 'hands' to connect to a Millennium Item Wielder was harder than either of them had predicted  
Destiny found herself curled up in the most reclusive area of their hotel with her eyes closed and her fingers in her ears trying with all her might to make her powers work.  
So far, the only minds she'd been able to connect with were that of the tomb children; Marik, Selket, and Ishizu and even they weren't very successful. She hadn't been able to fully enter their minds again; she simply sometimes got little flashes of their current emotion.  
It was frustrating to say the least; Destiny would try until her brain went numb.  
"You just have to keep practicing" Pegasus had reassured her, when he found her writhing around, kicking and screaming on the bed, hands grasping at the sides of her head.  
"I can't do it, Pegasus" Destiny choked out between sobs "no matter how hard I try, I can't do it!"  
"You'll get it, Destiny" Pegasus replied, placing a hand on her shoulder "reading minds long distance just doesn't come as easy to you as when its face to face, but that doesn't mean you won't get it one day."  
_Remember what I always say? _he asked her telepathically.  
_Nothing in life is ever easy, _Destiny replied in the same manner, wiping her nose on the corner of her shirt sleeve.  
Pegasus smiled.  
"Exactly, you're powerful, Destiny. All you have to do is harness your abilities and who knows what you can accomplish."

This made Destiny feel slightly better especially after Pegasus suggested she try connecting to some more people in their hotel (it appeared that walls were no problem for Destiny to 'see' through.)  
"I guess the Wielders have to at least be near their Fated Item for you to connect" Pegasus hypothesized as he leaned back on the couch and rubbed his brow.  
"Can we stop now, Pegasus? My eyes itch" Destiny asked.  
Pegasus nodded solemnly as he slouched down in his armchair with a dejected look on his face.  
Destiny stared at her brother  
"I'm sorry, Pegasus" she whispered, drawing her knees to her chest "I feel like I'm letting you down."  
"Don't think that" Pegasus replied, he sounded very tired "you can't help it and in time I know you'll be able to control your powers."  
Destiny cringed at the thought of powers, this mind reading thing was bad enough she couldn't imagine having something else to deal with as well.  
"Pegasus?" she whispered  
"Hmm?" Pegasus replied as he closed his eyes and leaned his head back  
Destiny took a deep breath  
"I think we should try to find that tomb."  
Pegasus's eye snapped open and he sat upright in his chair, clutching at the arms as though they were a life line.  
"Why didn't I think of that?" he cried.

Author's Note: Hey, I noticed a lot of views and visits on my stories but no follows or favs? Come on, guys! I know it's a little slow but good things come to those who wait and I got lots in store for this story! I like to hear what you guys think and I'd also like to thank iloveyugiohGX93 for being my first reviewer! Thanks a bunch *blows a kiss  
Now, how about the rest of you? *puppy dog eyes


	9. Chapter 9

"_**A wonderful fact to reflect upon, that every human creature is constituted to be that profound secret and mystery to every other."  
**__** ~Charles Dickens**___

After dinner, Destiny told her brother to leave her alone and then went into the room that she and Pegasus shared. She closed the door and turned down the lights. She then flopped down on her bed and lay on her back perfectly streamlined with her legs together and her arms folded across her stomach. Resting comfortably on the soft downy comforter, Destiny closed her eyes and changed her breathing from normal to deep and steady breaths as though she was asleep. Destiny entered a somewhat meditative state in which she could hear nothing and she felt as though her soul was floating inside her skin.  
She focused all of her energy on her hands.  
_Come on,_ Destiny thought, _show me where you are._  
Marik's face swam into her mind; an innocent smile and a cute little laugh.  
And then she heard his voice; it was faint and echoing but it was still there:

_Selket, have you ever wondered what the sun looks like?  
I suppose so. What do you think it looks like?  
I hear it is big and perfectly round, it glows pure white, and it is too bright to look at  
Do you think we will ever get to see it?  
Marik, you know we cannot do that.  
I know, but it is nice to hope, is it not?  
What is the point? We are never leaving.  
I will. One day, I am going to go up there, and leave this tomb, and the Valley of Kings behind. I am going to see the sun and the ocean, and visit a city, and talk with other people, and-  
Shut up Marik! Do you have any idea what Father will do to you if he catches you talking like that?_

But Destiny never got to hear what the sibling's father would do to Marik if he heard his word's because, as soon as the voices came to her, they vanished once more; slinking off into the shadows of a denser part of her mind. But Destiny didn't care as 'the here and now' rose out of the darkness, washing over her in one thick wave.  
She had the information she needed.  
Destiny opened her eyes and sat up. Leaning over the bed, she fumbled through her suitcase until she finally extracted the item she'd been searching for. Sitting cross-legged on the bed, she leafed her way through a massive textbook on the Valley of Kings. Destiny paused as one particular photo caught her eye. Her eyes widened as she stared at the photo of a sketch of the hallway that she'd seen in her visions.  
The caption below read:  
_A sketch of what the Nameless Pharaoh's Tomb is predicted to look like  
_"Pegasus" Destiny hollered, while not taking her eyes off the book.  
A split second later, Pegasus burst into the room and looked wildly about him  
"What is it? What's going on?" he demanded.  
"Nothing, get over here" Destiny snapped back, gesturing for her brother to sit beside her on the bed. He obliged, scooting closer to his sister and leaned over her shoulder to examine the book.  
"What are you looking at?" he asked.  
"Recognize this?" Destiny asked, tapping the picture of the tomb hallway with a knowing smile.  
Pegasus squinted at the drawing for a few moments before recognition flashed in his eyes. He turned to Destiny.  
"It's the tomb from your dream!" he cried, snatching the book from Destiny's hands and trailing his gaze across the page.  
"The Nameless Pharaoh?" he asked, glancing back up at his sister.  
Destiny nodded  
"Yeah, I saw a documentary on him on the plane a few months ago" she explained "the Nameless Pharaoh is one of Egypt's greatest mysteries. He inherited the throne of Egypt from his father, Pharaoh Aknamkanon; but he was only Pharaoh for an estimated eight days before Egypt was attacked by an unknown force and he was mysteriously murdered. Because he was only Pharaoh for a little over a week, nothing was ever recorded on him, but researchers of his father have determined that he was Aknamkanon's son and he served as Pharaoh, but his tomb was never discovered." Destiny pointed to the sketch in the book "this sketch is an educated guess as to what his tomb looks like and its identical to the one that Marik, Selket, and Ishizu are living in" she added.  
Pegasus raised an eyebrow  
"Living in?" he asked  
"Yes" Destiny replied "a few minutes ago, I managed to tune into Marik and Selket's conversation and I believe they actually live down within the tomb in the Valley of Kings. It's really big, so it makes sense."  
Pegasus shook his head.  
"No, Destiny, it doesn't" he whispered "if the tomb hasn't been discovered yet, then why would there be people living down there?"

Destiny's throat felt like sandpaper. Her eyes stung with the flecks of sand that danced about her sticky form; clinging like irritable ticks to her hair, within her clothing, and around her eyes. Destiny brushed flecks off her eye lashes as she stared out over the dry ocean of endless rolling dunes that stretched around her in every direction. It was empty and completely silent as far as she could see. It was paralyzing. Destiny's hands tightened on the rim of the sun roof, her silver hair whipping around face, sharp against her soft face like the sand grains.  
"Destiny, sit down" Pegasus called from the driver's seat as they rolled over a bump and the uneven surface jostled Destiny and slammed her into the roof's edge.  
Destiny scowled, nursing a sore chest and wounded pride as she slumped back into the passenger seat and propped her feet up on the dash board.  
"Are we almost to the edge of the Valley of Kings?" Destiny asked.  
Pegasus nodded  
"I suspect we'll reach it by nightfall" he explained before they were both vaulted forward slightly as they rolled over more dunes.  
As they rode on, Destiny glanced back at the small specks of excavators and archeologists as the perused a pre-discovered burial ground in search of new secrets.  
_Little do they realize that an even greater secret lies not two miles from them, _Destiny thought with a smug smile _and we're going to be the first ones to find it. How exciting!  
_Gazing above the horizon, she could see the sun was beginning to dip lower in the sky, half hidden from the countless rolling hills it was a single drop of blood against the stained orange and pink sky. As the sunset commenced, the desert sands became like a mirror reflecting the crimson hue of the retreating sun. The sand all around Destiny became tainted with blood; there was blood all around her. A venomous nausea wormed into Destiny's system, making her head slightly dizzy. She closed her eyes.  
She did not want to think of blood.

As they drove on, the line dividing day with night began to blur. The colors surrounding them went from the harsh and unforgivable red to the sweet and passionate purple. With the red's fading, Destiny also relaxed. She liked purple much better. The sky opened up in the desert at night; it was an endless fireworks display, uninterrupted by city lights. Stars flashed on into eternity. Destiny stood up, and poked her head up through the sun roof once more to gaze up into the shimmering purple cloak, gently wrapping itself around her and her brother. With the suffocating net of daytime's heat being slowly unraveled by cold's sly fingers, a garment of relaxation rested upon young Destiny's shoulders. It was a small pleasure, like that of turning over your pillow to lie on the cool side.  
"Destiny!" Pegasus suddenly called, jolting the young girl out her lament. Her eyes fell upon her brother who was waving to her from a short distance ahead. Slightly flustered, she hopped out of the jeep and trotted up the sand dune to meet him.  
"Look there" Pegasus whispered. His voice strained with excitement.  
Destiny followed his pointing finger towards a wilted structure on the very brim of the horizon, it appeared to be the remains of some kind of temple, but that was all Destiny could tell for it was so far off that it appeared to be tittering on the edge of the world, a single nudge and it would plunge down over the brink. From their distance, the structure resembled a pathetic pile of disturbed building blocks, stained black from the ever creeping dusk. But, Destiny knew what it was and excitement closed its hand around her heart.  
"That's it" Pegasus exclaimed gripping Destiny's shoulders.  
"The Nameless Pharaoh's Tomb" Destiny breathed.  
Destiny's brow furrowed.  
She glanced over her shoulder, back towards where the discovered tombs lay.  
"Pegasus" she whispered "why can't the excavators find this place? It's not very well hidden."  
Pegasus's expression was dark, save the faint glow of the Millennium Eye bleeding through the wisps of silvery hair.  
"Because it doesn't want to be seen" he whispered.  
"What?" Destiny cried.  
"It wants us to find it, but not them" Pegasus continued.  
"How do you know that?" Destiny asked.  
"The Eye" Pegasus replied simply "this tomb has some kind of sentience; I can sense its motives with my Eye. It wants to show us something." As he spoke, Pegasus headed towards the mound of dejected stone.  
"Sentience, like it's alive?" Destiny raced after her brother "how can it be alive?"  
"I don't know" Pegasus muttered "however, it chose to have us see it, so there must be something worth seeing."

"Watch your step, Destiny" Pegasus's voice called up from the shadows as Destiny gingerly brushed her foot out in front of her; feeling about blindly for the next stone step in the seemingly never ending stone staircase.  
"What is it with Egyptians and creepy stone staircases that lead to nowhere?" Destiny asked; groping through the gloom for her brother's sleeve, which she finally clasped the edge of with her thumb and forefinger.  
Pegasus laughed heartily at this. Destiny had never seen him so happy and it was obvious why. If they were able to obtain the three Millennium Items located within the tomb's eerie depths then they'd be a colossal step closer to obtaining their goal.  
Destiny gingerly cast a glance over her shoulder, the doorway they'd past through to enter the tomb was the size of a postage stamp by now.  
"We must be miles below the surface" she whispered.  
Pegasus's only response was a muffled yelp and the stumbling sound of a disrupted shoe sliding against a slippery step.  
"Got a light?" he asked a little breathlessly after regaining his balance.  
Destiny nodded, then remembered he couldn't see her.  
"Yeah" she replied, fumbling for the strap of her satchel "just a sec."  
A minute later she extracted their trusty flashlight from her pack and passed it to her brother.  
"Thank heavens for these things" Pegasus muttered as he clicked it on. A wide beam of light suddenly stabbed through the thick black veil to reveal a long hallway that trailed off into nothing but more shadows.  
"I can't imagine trying to navigate around down here thousands of years ago with only torches and your wits" Pegasus added as he and Destiny stepped off the stairs.  
"Yeah, and we best keep those about us" Destiny replied weakly, jumping slightly as a scorpion scuttled past her boot.  
Pegasus laughed again as he took a few steps forward so as to light more of the cave. There was a gasp in unison from both siblings and then a sudden clatter echoing up and down the hall as the flashlight hit the musky stone floor.  
When Pegasus had somewhat composed himself, he retrieved the light and whirled around to reveal his own shock reflected in his sister's face.  
The hallway was a dead end.  
"This is impossible" Pegasus cried as he rushed up to the wall at the end of the corridor and began to knock fruitlessly on it.  
But to no avail, it was completely solid.  
"How?" Destiny whispered "how could there only be this one hall?"  
"No!" Pegasus shouted as he chucked the flashlight at the wall. It collided with a loud thud causing its light to flicker slightly. He then whirled around and gripped Destiny's shoulders so hard it hurt the young girl.  
"You said they'd be here!" he hollered, his voice thick; obviously attempting to hold back tears "why aren't they here?" he demanded.  
"I don't know" Destiny cried.  
"Well, see if you can connect with the minds of those kids! See if you can find them!" Pegasus snapped.  
"I'm trying" Destiny hollered, squeezing her eyes shut and balling her hands into fists so tightly that her nails dug into her palms.  
"Useless!" Pegasus screamed, releasing his sister and giving the wall a good swift kick as well as a holler of solid rage.  
"Pegasus" Destiny whimpered. She'd never seen her brother explode like this.  
"Please stop."  
Pegasus spun around, shoulders hunched and fists clenched, breathing heavily with the Millennium Eye flashing brighter than ever.  
"Pegasus" Destiny whispered again, taking a good step back.  
Her brother's only response was a strained sob as he slumped to the floor beside that horrible wall and slammed his head down against its knees, muffling the Eye's glow and plunging them both back into solid darkness.  
Destiny felt about on the ground before her. Her hand finally closed around the handle of the abused flashlight, which had gone out. She flicked the 'on' switch several times but it did not reignite.  
"Light's dead" she muttered, tapping the device against her palm.  
Pegasus gave no response.  
Destiny gazed over in his general direction and could almost feel the great heaping haze of grief and bitter disappointment emitting from him.  
Slowly, she stumbled over until she felt her arm brush his. She sat beside her brother, hugging her knees to her chest and resting her head on his shoulder in a silent gesture of comfort.  
"This was the only lead we had" Pegasus muffled voice finally wormed out from the depths of his folded arms.  
"I know" Destiny replied hesitantly. She didn't really know what else to say as she felt the familiar prickling of her own bitter tears.  
"I can't believe I was foolish enough" Pegasus suddenly cried "that I dared to hope I could achieve the impossible."  
Destiny was astounded  
"Don't tell me we're giving up?" she demanded.  
"What are we supposed to do?" Pegasus snapped back "we've literally hit a wall."  
"But, we can't give up" Destiny blurted, shaking her brother rather roughly "there's got to be some sort of clue or something down here. This hallway can't be all there is. Please Pegasus; don't give up. At least not yet."  
Pegasus's Millennium Eye was still glowing, so she could see when he turned to look at her  
"Please" she repeated "it's not over yet, its barely begun."  
Pegasus chuckled sadly at this.  
"Always the optimist. Alright, Destiny; we'll take a look around."_  
_Destiny heard a faint scraping sound as he got to his feet and then felt his hand emerge from the darkness to help his sister to hers.  
Pegasus stared back over at the wall for a moment before shinning his Eye to the wall that was opposite them where a vast array of indistinguishable hieroglyphics shown out of the gloom.  
"Cool" Destiny whispered as she crossed the hall and ran her hand over the carvings, long since faded; glazed over from weather and time.  
"What is it?" Pegasus asked moving to stand beside her  
"Well, I'm no expert but doesn't this picture mean game?" Destiny replied, tracing her hand along the mark's cryptic lines.  
Pegasus leaned in closer, his eyes narrowed as he scrutinized the mark  
"By golly, I think your right. But what sort of game? I-" he stopped, realization streaked across his face, still visible despite the half-light.  
"Shadow Game" both siblings cried in unison.  
"So, the Nameless Pharaoh had a hand in those Shadow Games?" Pegasus mused, trailing his Eye beam across the worn wall.  
"Hey, shine the light over there" Destiny said quite suddenly, pointing to her right as something appeared on the edge of her peripheral vision.  
Pegasus did so and, out of the black, a strange carving slowly materialized.  
It was of nine people: six men and three women. Eight of which were gathered around the ninth, who stood in the middle of the group with his arms outstretched almost lovingly to the other's while, all but one, bowed respectfully.  
"Do you think that's the Nameless Pharaoh?" Pegasus asked as he and Destiny surveyed the carving.  
But Destiny did not respond. She simply gazed up at the carving for quite some time. Her eyes trailing steadily along each of the people the carving depicted.  
Finally, she spoke in a voice of barely contained joy.  
"Pegasus, don't you see?" she cried as she rushed up to the carving "these are the nine Original Wielders of the Millennium Items."  
Pegasus's mouth fell open.  
"Wow, your right!" he exclaimed "they each hold an Item."  
Destiny ran her fingers across the carving, smiling to herself as she took in all nine of the Original Wielders.  
"Look Pegasus, this one has the Eye" she said, pointing to an elderly looking man with a beard and the unmistakable Millennium Eye gleaming from where his real right eye should be.  
"Creepy looking fella, ain't he" Pegasus asked with a small smile as he shoved his hands into his pockets  
"Yeah, a little" Destiny replied as she observed the man in the center of the depiction  
"Pegasus I think you're right" she whispered "I think the man in the middle is the Nameless Pharaoh."  
Pegasus chuckled "he has weird hair, looks like he stuck his finger in an electrical socket."  
"And look!" Destiny added, ignoring her brother's comment. She tapped the carving's chest. "See that pyramid shaped pendent? That's the Millennium Puzzle, the Nameless Pharaoh was the original Wielder of the Millennium Puzzle."  
"Of course" Pegasus cried, lightly smacking his forehead "it all fits; why you claim those kids with the Rod, Band, and Necklace are living in this tomb. It's because the Nameless Pharaoh was the leader of the Original Wielders. Plus, it also explains his supposed murder by an 'unknown source'. I bet he had to sacrifice himself to stop the Shadow Games magic from taking over the world."  
"Yes" Destiny cried "the Millennium Items vanished after the fall of the Shadow Games because their Wielders all died to protect the world from the Shadows."  
Pegasus whistled.  
"Talk about loyalty. Am I right?" he muttered.  
Destiny turned back to the carving and noticed that one of the people it portrayed was standing somewhat off to the side; away from the others as though they felt awkward being there. It was one of the women and was also the only one who was not kneeling before the Pharaoh. This woman had long layered hair and a crown shaped like a cobra. She wielded the Millennium Bracelet.  
"What do you make of her?" Destiny asked, gesturing to the female Wielder.  
Pegasus stared at the woman for a moment.  
"That one right there?" he asked pointing to the Bracelet Wielder, who wasn't bowing.  
Destiny nodded.  
"Funny" Pegasus whispered "I've seen her somewhere before."  
"You have?" Destiny asked.  
Pegasus nodded as he glanced from the carving to Destiny and back again "yes, I definitely have, I just can't think of where."  
Pegasus observed the carving for a few more moments before turning back at Destiny  
"Don't you feel the same?" he asked.  
Destiny's eyes wavered to the carving.  
"I guess so" she shrugged.  
But, as Destiny stared up at the carving of the Bracelet Wielder, she couldn't help but feel a strange tug in her chest as though she was being drawn to the women. Like a nail is drawn to a magnet.  
Destiny shook her head.  
_What connection could I have to this woman? _She thought, _she's been dead for five thousand years and she couldn't be an ancestor of mine; me and Pegasus are both of Greek descent.  
_"Pegasus and I" Pegasus suddenly corrected, without taking his eyes off carving.  
Destiny glared at him  
"I told you not to do that" she snapped.  
"Oh, right" Pegasus smiled sheepishly "sorry."  
Destiny rolled her eyes and then, taking one last look at the Wielders depiction, she turned away and walked further down the hall, trailing her hand along the wall for guidance.  
"Where are you going?" Pegasus inquired, his Eye beam following her movements. Destiny did not respond right away but she stopped walking when another carving flashed out of the corner of her eye, illuminated by Pegasus's Eye beam.  
"Shine the light over there" Destiny said, pointing to another portion of the wall facing them.  
"Over here?" Pegasus asked, turning his head slightly and immediately cascading another ancient carving into visibility.  
This carving was even stranger then the last and, like the other, this one depicted the Nameless Pharaoh as well as what appeared to be some kind of Egyptian Priest. The stood off against one another with hard, determined expressions on their carved faces.  
"That Priest is the Original Millennium Rod Wielder" Destiny observed, pointing to the short scepter clasped in the Priest's hand.  
Pegasus did not respond. He was too focused on the carving.  
Walking up to the wall, he ran his hand across the wearing stone.  
"A Shadow Game" he whispered.  
"What?" Destiny demanded, whipping around to face her brother.  
"A Shadow Game" Pegasus repeated "this carving is a demonstration of a Shadow Game."  
"How can you tell?" Destiny inquired.  
"See these two creatures above their heads?" Pegasus asked, gesturing to two carvings above the Pharaoh and the Priest.  
One was unmistakably some kind of dragon: with a long, sharp-ended tail and a pair of leathery bat like wings. It snarled down at its opponent, bearing long, snake-like fangs. The other actually resembled some kind of person: clothed in a long, flowing rob with a mystical wand-like staff clutched in its hands.  
"A dragon and…some kind of sorcerer?" Destiny guessed.  
"Actually, I believe Egyptians would have referred to that as a magician" Pegasus replied "this Dragon and Magician are two of the many creatures one could summon from the Shadow Realm during a Shadow Game. Man, this is incredible" Pegasus added, whipping out his notebook. He began to frantically scribble away.  
"Pegasus, what are you doing?" Destiny asked, standing on tip toe, but she still couldn't see what her brother was sketching or writing.  
As Pegasus frantically filled up his notebook, muttering to himself; Destiny casually strolled back over to the wall blocking them off from the rest of the tomb. With a sigh, she pressed her hand against the cold, moldy, and very solid rock.  
_There just has to be a way to break this thing down, _Destiny thought bitterly.  
"Don't worry, Destiny; we will" she heard Pegasus call without looking up from his notes.  
Destiny shot a glare at him and then down to his notes which Pegasus quite suddenly slammed shut.  
"Well" he said, turning to Destiny "let's get out of here. We have lots to do."  
"What do you mean? What are you plotting?" Destiny called after her brother as he headed for the stairs.  
Pegasus turned back to her and grinned. "Oh, you'll see."

_Worn cardboard boxes, crumbling cases, and dusty shelves surrounded the young boy as he ran his duster across the counter, spraying flecks of silvery dirt all about the half lit room.  
With a cough, he hopped down from the stool and surveyed his work.  
"Finally done" he said with a smile.  
"And about time too" a voice from behind the boy called. The boy whirled around to see a stout, elderly man in the doorway leading up stairs. The man was old and bent with stiff grey hair, mostly hidden under a deep blue bandana, and a matching silvery beard but his large plum colored eyes still shone with a bright youth.  
"Just because it's your birthday doesn't mean you can slack off, Yugi" the man scolded playfully, wagging a finger at the boy who shared his bright purple gaze.  
"Come on, Grandpa. Won't you show me what you got me already?" the boy pleaded, clasping his hands together and somehow managing to make his large eyes even larger.  
The old man chuckled at his grandson. "My, my, was I supposed to get you something?" he asked with a grin.  
"Grandpa" the boy whined.  
"I'm only kidding, Yugi; and I got you something extra special this year" he added with a sly wink as he crossed the room and hopped up on a two-step ladder, facing a vacant set of shelves.  
The old man felt about on the top shelf for a few moments before he finally extracted a small gold case about the size of a jewelry box.  
"Here we are" the man said, slightly breathlessly as he hopped down from the ladder with the box clasped tightly in his hands. The box was ancient and mystical-looking with its face and lid in alluring Egyptian hieroglyphics. One in particular, carved in the very center of the box's lid: the Eye of Wdjat.  
"Oh wow" the boy breathed as his grandfather strolled over to him and handed him the box.  
"Where did you get something like this?" the boy asked as he clutched at the box, beholding it with awe.  
"Through a friend: his team unearthed it in Egypt. Apparently its stuff of legend; supposedly five thousand years old" the grandfather explained.  
"That's incredible" the boy whispered as he gazed down at the box.  
"Well, what are you waiting for, Yugi? Open it up" his grandfather cried.  
Yugi obliged, slowly lifting the lid to reveal a small collection of misshapen gold pieces with smooth, square-shaped edges that seemed to want to be hooked together like a group of clogs and gears.  
"It's a puzzle" the grandfather explained as the boy curiously lifted one of the pieces from the box. "I know how much you like games and I thought this would be perfect. Although, I should warn you; no one's been able to solve this puzzle in over five millennia" he added.  
The boy grinned at this.  
"That's okay Grandpa. I like a challenge. Thank you, this is perfect…"_

"Hey, Destiny wake up we're back at the hotel."  
"What? Ah! It's so bright, close the shades!"  
"You must have been exhausted; you fell asleep on the way home from the tomb. Did you go anywhere?"  
"As a matter of fact I did, Pegasus…I found the Millennium Puzzle."


	10. Chapter 10

_**Chapter 10:**_ "_**It is the function of art to renew our perception. What we are familiar with we cease to see. The writer shakes up the familiar scene, and, as if by magic, we see a new meaning in it."  
~**__**Anais Nin**_

"Pegasus! Pegasus, where are you!" Destiny screamed as she hurled her way desperately through the bustling crowd. Every so often she would stop before some random person and repeat the same phrase over and over again  
"Hal tatahadath Al Englyzeyah?"  
Do you speak English?  
But ever response was a solid shake of the head.  
Destiny cursed her incompetence. She'd been living on and off in Egypt for a few months now and she still didn't know very much of the native language. True, she knew a few simple phrases. Such as:  
Hello.  
Goodbye.  
How are you?  
Where's the bathroom?  
And of course: "Hal tatahadath Al Englyzeyah?" Destiny desperately hollered at an elderly man who'd been hobbling along the opposite way down Cairo's bustling sidewalks. The man gave her a surprised glance, a curt shake of the head, and then continued on his way, walking a little quicker.  
Destiny stopped her frantic racing about and leaned against a nearby wall.  
She could feel the tight knot of frustration and fear coiling around her ribs tightening its grasp and making it harder and harder to breath.  
"Come on" she cried, clapping her hands around her forehead "stupid mind! Connect to Pegasus" she hissed through gritted teeth, praying her ability to activate but her mind hands would not budge. It made sense that Destiny was having hard time. She was desperate and freaking out, separated from her brother in the middle of a foreign country. Tears began to pool in her eyes as she shoved herself off the wall and cursed very loudly in several languages which brought about a series of curious stares from passerby, but Destiny didn't care.  
She was lost and alone and she had nowhere to go and no one to turn to.  
"Someone help me, please!" Destiny sobbed as she broke into yet another mad dash down the crowded sidewalk. But she didn't get very far. Due to her frustration and blinded by her tears, she ran head long into a firm chest, knocking the wind out of whomever it belonged to.  
"Oomph! What the-?" a voice cried out in shock as Destiny buried her face in a coarse brown shirt.  
English. He'd said it in English!  
Destiny gazed up with a tear-stained and pleading expression. The man she'd smacked into was middle aged with a kind but rough face, worn from weeks spent out in the sun, and long dark blue-black hair yanked hurriedly into a loose ponytail. He had a slightly darker complexion but it was not that of an Egyptian. His deep black eyes were almond-shaped with slight wrinkles around their edges which crinkled up when he smiled down at Destiny.  
"Can I help you?" he asked in a slight British accent as he gazed down at the lost girl.  
"Sorry, sir" Destiny almost yelped as she jumped away from the man. "I'm just lost and scared and I-"the rest was lost amongst post-crying hiccups.  
The man nodded.  
"Ah, I see" he said, smiling again. "Well let's do something about that. Shall we?"  
Destiny nodded as a relieved smile of her own slowly crept up her face  
"Thank you, sir" she exclaimed, having half a mind to hug the man.  
"Now" the man continued, bending down so he was eye-level with the young girl "where were your parents last?"  
"Dead and missing, sir" Destiny replied "I'm looking for my brother" she added quickly to counter the man's startled expression.  
"Oh, alright then" the man said with a strained smile "what about your brother?"  
"Well, I went out to buy us some lunch" Destiny explained, holding up the greasy paper bag which she'd been clutching like a vice "and he told me to meet him by a certain fountain, but the crowd confused me and I think I took a wrong turn and now I can't find it and it's been nearly two hours and he's probably really worried and-" Destiny's voice broke off as she felt a lump rising in her throat again.  
"Okay, calm down" the man said, gently placing his hand on her shoulders "now what does your brother look like?"  
"He's tall, I think a little over six feet, and thin, with olive skin, like me, and the same hair as me, but its neater, and his eyes are amber" Destiny replied hurriedly.  
"Alright, that's good. I think I know the fountain you're talking about. Come on" the man said with another eye-crinkling smile as he straightened up and took Destiny's hand. "What's your name, by the way?" he inquired after a pause.  
"Destiny, sir. Destiny Pegasus" Destiny replied after slight hesitation. She really didn't know if she could fully trust this man. He seemed nice enough, but Pegasus always warned her not to go off with just_ anybody_. Then again, Destiny was pretty low on options. Considering this man was the only person within a two mile radius that spoke her language.  
"That's an interesting name" the man stated. "I'm Takashi…Takashi Bakura, that is"

"Well, look familiar?"  
"Yes, Mr. Bakura. This is the fountain" Destiny replied, embracing the cool hand of relief untangle the knot strangling her chest.  
Takashi Bakura's eyes grazed the surrounding square.  
"I don't see anyone that resembles your description of your brother" he finally said  
Destiny glanced around too.  
"No, he's not here" she replied, feeling the ghost of her panic waver against her ribs.  
Where was Pegasus?  
"Don't worry, Destiny" Takashi said, clapping a hand on her back. "He probably just went to look for you. He'll come back here soon to see if you managed to make it here."  
"Okay" Destiny whispered, giving her savior a small smile as she sat down on the edge of the fountain.  
Takashi sat down as well; setting a small cloth package, he'd been carrying, down between them.  
Destiny's eyes wavered curiously to the misshapen lump of grey cloth. In her panic, she hadn't noticed it, but now that she was relatively calm she realized that she could feel some strange cloud of unusual energy radiating in a thick haze from the package. It was like the energy she'd felt pulsing from the Millennium Key and Scale when she and Pegasus had met Shadi. Yes, this energy was similar and yet it had a drastic difference to it. It felt colder, darker, more mysterious, and strangely almost _alive.  
_A shiver ran down Destiny's spine and her heartbeat quickened its pace once more but in a different race this time; a race of excitement.  
Could it be?  
Takashi glanced over; curious as to Destiny's silence and then saw her transfixed on his little package.  
"Quite an interesting little thing I got here" Takashi explained as he picked up the cloth-wrapped object once more and held it tightly in his hands.  
Destiny's eyes followed the object.  
"May I?" she asked, half reaching out.  
"Of course, but be careful. It's priceless" Takashi replied with a grin as he passed the package to Destiny.  
Trying to contain her frantic breathing, Destiny grasped the package and held it as gingerly as though it were a bomb. Tenderly, she brushed her fingers across the faded grey cloth, afraid of what lay just beneath the fraying fibers. Finally, in one frantic motion, she yanked the cloth apart and a weighty hunk of gold flopped into her lap.  
Destiny gasped and her eyes widened as another Eye, the Eye of Wdjat to be precise, flashed back up at her.  
Destiny beheld a massive golden ring resting between her khaki clad legs.  
The ring was ancient and mystic with a unique and glorious design; it consisted of a large gold triangle which housed the carving of the Eye of Wdjat surrounded by a band with five sharpened tassels hanging from the bottom of the ring.  
"Wow" Destiny breathed as her fingers wavered over the ring, "I've never seen anything like this before."  
"Darn right you haven't" Takashi exclaimed with a chuckle "that there is the only one of its kind: an artifact dating back to the Ancient times of this world, five thousand years to be precise. It's called the Millennium Ring."  
_Yes, I know, _Destiny thought, _there's no doubt about it. This is it_.  
Destiny glanced back up at Takashi. "It's beautiful" she proclaimed with a strained smile.  
"I know "Takashi replied arrogantly "I fought long and hard to keep this artifact out of the museum and instead I'm going to give this to my son as a birthday present." He stared at Destiny for a moment, his gaze scrutinizing. "You know, I think he'd be about your age. Eight?" he added  
"Ten, Mr. Bakura" Destiny replied.  
"Of course. Yes, he's turning eleven in about a week from now…September 2nd."  
Destiny couldn't help but notice that Takashi's voice tensed somewhat when he mentioned his son. He also seemed to pause slightly before stating the boy's birthday as though he'd momentarily forgotten.  
"Hey, can I have that back?" Takashi added, jolting Destiny from her thoughts. Startled, she turned her attention back to the Millennium Ring. Now that it was unwrapped, its strange energy field had increased dramatically. It threaded up and down Destiny's bare-arms like a sudden icy wind, making her insides freeze.  
Slightly overwhelmed, Destiny reached out and laced her fingers around the band of the Ring, lifting it from her lap. Instantly, a quick flash of burning, white hot pain stabbed at Destiny's fingers and shot up her arms like an electric shock. With a slight yelp, Destiny let the Ring fall back into her lap and stared at her fingers which had pinked slightly as though they'd been burned.  
"Is something wrong?" Takashi asked, raising an eyebrow.  
"No" Destiny replied, quickly shoving her hands into the pockets of her khaki shorts.  
She stared down at the Ring with a skeptic expression.  
_Did the Item just burn my fingers? _Destiny wondered. _Why? The Millennium Eye doesn't seem to hurt Pegasus.  
_Then again, there was this strange blood chilling magic emitting from the Ring. It was as though the Ring didn't want anyone to touch it.  
"Pretty Ring" Destiny stated lamely as she scooped the Ring off her lap, wrapped in its cloth once more, and passed it back to Takashi Bakura.  
"Yes, this was a fantastic find indeed" Takashi replied as he gratefully accepted the Ring back from Destiny and then, to Destiny's horror, he picked up the Ring the same way Destiny had. It did nothing to harm him.  
"What the-? "Destiny started to say but quickly snapped her mouth shut when Takashi gave her a curious glance.  
"Did you say something?" he asked.  
Destiny shook her head stiffly, biting her lower lip. She couldn't fathom the ancient relic that Takashi now had clasped between his apparently unscathed hands. Why wasn't it burning him? Why did it only burn her?  
"Oh Destiny, thank god! There you are" a familiar voice suddenly called up from the crowd and, before Destiny could blink, she found herself entangled in a rib crushing bear hug courtesy of her older brother.  
"You're alright! Thank heavens, you're alright! I'd thought I'd lost you. I never should have let you go out on your own."  
"Uh, Pegasus" Destiny managed to squeeze out between her brother's firm arms "I can't breathe."  
Pegasus instantly released her at this; spluttering apologies, as well as more explanations of relief, and praises to her safety.  
"Splendid, you must be the girl's older brother" Takashi Bakura suddenly piped up as he hurriedly rose to his feet.  
Pegasus whipped around, slightly flustered, to survey Takashi whom held out his hand with another warm smile.  
"My apologies" Pegasus quickly said as he grasped Takashi's hand. "Where are my manners? I'm Maximilian Pegasus. And you are?" he inquired.  
"This is Takashi Bakura, Pegasus" Destiny explained, gesturing to her Ring-bearing savior "he was the one who found me after I got lost in the crowd."  
"Oh well, I give you my gratitude, sir. If there is anything I can do to repay you for helping my little sister."  
"Don't worry about that" Takashi replied, waving his hand dismissively "I'm just glad it all worked out and I noticed she calls you Pegasus. What an adorable nickname!"  
Both Destiny and Pegasus flushed at this.  
"Pegasus" Destiny whispered, tugging on her brother's sleeve, as she so often did. "Ask Mr. Bakura what he has. It's so cool."  
Pegasus turned back to Takashi and raised an eyebrow.  
"Ah, you must mean this" Takashi exclaimed, picking up the partially wrapped Millennium Ring and holding it out to Pegasus. "This was an extraordinary find" he added but Destiny doubted Pegasus heard him.  
Pegasus's eyes had grown to the size of dinner plates as he beheld the Ring and Destiny caught the faint glimmer of gold from his Millennium Eye flashing from under his hair curtain.  
Pegasus bit his lower lip in an attempt to conceal his excitement. His fingers hovered in restrained anticipation over the Ring the same way Destiny's had before…  
_No, don't! _Destiny cried through their mind link, _it's like a hot oven.  
_Pegasus's eyes wavered in subtle curiosity but Destiny decided she'd explain it to him once they were alone. Not in front of the enthusiastic archaeologist, who sadly had no idea what he held in his hands.  
_We need to be alone? _Pegasus asked through the same link.  
Destiny's response was a minuscule nod.  
Pegasus turned back to Takashi, who was gently refolding the cloth housing the Ring. He cleared his throat but before Takashi could respond the faint hum of a ringing phone could be heard emitting from the Ring-bearer's pocket.  
"Oh dear, I'm late" Takashi cried after he extracted his phone and glanced briefly at it. He turned back to the siblings. "Well, it was nice meeting you two. Enjoy the rest of your stay in Egypt. And Destiny, don't go wandering off" he added with a sly wink.  
"Of course" Destiny replied with a grin.  
And then, with tip of the hat, Takashi Bakura turned around and disappeared into the thick city crowd, tucking the Millennium Ring into his satchel as he went.  
As soon as he was out of sight, Destiny turned to Pegasus and just exploded  
"Pegasus! Did you see that? He had the Millennium Ring! He said he was going to give it to his son. Can you believe it! What a coincidence meeting him! That's another Millennium Item that's revealed itself and-"  
"Shut it" Pegasus ordered, pressing a finger to Destin's lips.  
Destiny immediately closed her mouth. Pegasus only used that tone with her when he needed a moment to think.  
Destiny glanced up at her brother and she could almost see the gears turning in his head as he stared after Takashi Bakura.  
"Destiny" he finally said his eyes not wavering "about the Ring..."  
"Oh right!" Destiny cried, springing back to life. "Okay, so Mr. Bakura let me see the Ring but when I went to pick it up, the Ring scorched me! It literally burned my hands. Look!" Destiny held up her hands so that Pegasus could see her still slightly rosy finger tips.  
"Yikes" Pegasus muttered.  
"Yeah, I know, but here's the weird thing: when Takashi took the Ring back from me, he didn't seem harmed by it at all."  
Pegasus raised an eyebrow.  
"That's odd."  
"Pegasus, you don't suppose Takashi is the Millennium Ring's new Wielder?"  
Pegasus shook his head.  
"No, if he was; he wouldn't be giving it away like he said."  
Destiny bit her lip, she'd forgotten about Takashi's comment about giving the Ring to his son. The Millennium Ring, with its strange and mysterious auras that seemed to freeze Destiny's insides solid. Suddenly she felt very afraid.  
"Pegasus" she whispered "when I unwrapped the Millennium Ring; I could feel its aura coming from it the same way I could feel the auras of the Key and Scale but it's different from those Items. It's…well…it's…"  
"Powerful?" Pegasus suggested.  
"No" Destiny replied shaking her head "evil."

_Varoooooom _Destiny extracted a pencil from the sharper and examined it's slightly sharper tip before jamming it back into the hole again.  
As she sharpened her pencil, Destiny glanced down at her sketch pad, which lay open in her lap. The intricate pattern of faded grey lines made out a nearly finished drawing of Marik. At least what he'd looked like the last time she'd seen him. Although Destiny hadn't had a vision in months, the pages of her drawing book were full of scribbles and time passing doodles of various hallways of the mysterious Nameless Pharaoh's Tomb. As well as many drawings of Marik and Selket, a few of Ishizu, one of Shadi, and even one or two of Yugi: the Millennium Puzzle's newest Wielder, and the latest edition to her little mind connection collection.  
Destiny ran her newly sharpened pencil across the page as she shaded in a shadow of Marik's scruffy shoulder length hair.  
This act completing her drawing, Destiny crossed her socked feet and leaned back on the pillow of her hotel bed so as to comfortably survey her work.  
She smiled down at Marik's pleasant little face. She always drew him smiling because, although her visions were scarce, she'd never seen the young boy with a frown.  
Setting down her book, Destiny reached for her half full glass of iced tea and. Upon doing so, the page of her book flipped aside slightly to reveal another sketch she'd completed two days prior.  
As she glanced down at the drawing, her once relaxed mood soon intensified into a rib splintering anxiety. The drawing was of Takashi Bakura. She'd drawn him exactly as she'd seen him: under kept and slightly wind-blown with his pleasant eye wrinkling smile as he proudly held up the Millennium Ring.  
Destiny stiffened at the thought of that Item.  
Since she'd encountered Takashi and the Ring two days ago, her mind had been constantly wandering back to the incident.  
She just couldn't forget how the Ring had scalded her hands once her bare skin had touched its surface. With a loud sigh, Destiny lifted the sketch pad from the bed and placed it on the bedside table.  
"Is something wrong?" Pegasus, who was sitting on the bed beside her, asked as he glanced up from his laptop.  
Destiny shook her head as she surveyed the disarrayed clutter of various papers splayed out around her brother.  
Undoubtedly, Pegasus was scouring the web for any clues as to how they could get their hands on those Millennium Items. Destiny wasn't too surprised. Her brother had been awfully pensive since their paths crossed with Takashi.  
Destiny leafed through a cluttered pile of various printed out documents that probably wouldn't be of any use to them, randomly picking up a sheet of torn notebook paper.

Millennium Key and Scale  
-In possession of-Shadi  
- Location- Unknown

Millennium Band, Rod, and Necklace  
-In possession of-Marik, Selket, and Ishizu  
-Location-Unknown

Millennium Puzzle  
-In possession of-Yugi  
-Location-Unknown

Millennium Ring  
-In possession of-Takashi Bakura  
- Location-On the move

Millennium Bracelet  
-In possession of-Unknown  
-Location-Unknown 

The last one: the Millennium Bracelet, it was the only Item that Destiny and Pegasus had no clues to its whereabouts. This struck Destiny as rather odd but what was even odder was that her and Pegasus roughly knew about the Items location, at least who currently had them and yet they were making no move to take them.  
"Pegasus?" Destiny asked as she set down the scrap of paper. "Why aren't we making any attempts to find the Items? I mean, when we met Takashi the other day, why didn't you simply take the Millennium Ring from him?"  
Pegasus's head snapped up from his computer once more.  
"First of all Destiny, that would have been stealing and second of all, it doesn't work that way."  
"What do you mean?" Destiny asked.  
Pegasus closed his laptop and set it aside with a sigh of his own.  
"Destiny, the Millennium Items are the purest things ever created and stealing is an impure act. If we were to simply take the Items from their current Wielders, it won't do us any good. Their power would lock itself up and we won't be able to use them."  
"How do you know that?" Destiny demanded.  
"Research and this thing" Pegasus replied, tapping the Millennium Eye lodged within his socket.  
Destiny grimaced.  
"That thing tells you stuff?" she whispered.  
Pegasus shrugged.  
"Sort of, when the Eye was given to me, it enlightened me with knowledge of how the Items work and how the Shadow Games worked."  
"In that case, how are we supposed to get our hands on the Items?" Destiny inquired.  
"There are two ways" Pegasus replied, brushing his hand over the Eye. "One: the Wielder of an Item can give us their Item, but it has to be willingly."  
"Well, that's easy as far as Takashi's concerned. I mean he had no idea what he had."  
"That's not entirely true" Pegasus explained. "Takashi Bakura may not have known the true power of his Item but he did know that it was valuable. So, I doubt he'll just give it to us."  
"Okay, is there any other way then?" Destiny inquired.  
"There is one other" Pegasus said grimly "and that's beat the Wielder in a Shadow Game."  
"Oh, that's perfect!" Destiny cried, flopping down on the bed and throwing her arms up in dismay. "There's no way we can get the other eight Items now. The Shadow Games are extinct."  
"The rituals may have stopped but the power still exists" Pegasus whispered mysteriously.  
Destiny sat up.  
"What are you talking about?" she demanded.  
"Don't worry, Destiny. I have a plan" Pegasus replied with a sly smile. "I'm going to resurrect the Shadow Games."


	11. Chapter 11

"_**It is a man's own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways."**__**  
~Buddha**_

_Soft gentle breathing brushing across the darkness; sullen, yet still loudly present like distant waves_ _crashing along a shore. Eyes danced beneath weary lids, listening to the sound of sleep and dreams.  
But was she not also in a dream?  
Would the colors be vivid or the usual fog of blurred thoughts?  
Hesitant eyelids slowly lifted and an unfamiliar room unfolded before Destiny's gaze.  
White walls, blue curtains, grey carpet.  
Plain and neat.  
Where was she?  
Destiny rolled her shoulders to find they hurt, her legs and arms she could not feel.  
She was suspended, helpless, and within another's soul.  
She could feel the presence of said soul beside her, ensnared in the web of gentle, careless, blissful sleep.  
Feel his warm dreams press against her own chest like a small sun.  
Her hand crept like a stalking spider across white sheets and blue pillows to brush another's wrist. Her eyes shifted and her head nudged, weighed from exhaustion and confusion.  
Through these small movements, his face is visible.  
A boy of eleven lay beside Destiny, calm with stillness, lost in sleep.  
Ghostly pale and frail looking; like a wisp of steam. Long white hair cascaded around the face like falling snow, collecting in drifts just at his shoulders.  
The boy smiled from his dream.  
Young and handsome, completely unaware of the presence beside him; so close yet so far apart, Destiny's hand passed through the wrist.  
She was cold, like ice or the snowy hair.  
The boy's brow knitted together. He did not like the cold disturbing his warmth.  
Destiny removed her hand but she had already pulled him from the waters of subconscious and the boy's eyes drifted open, clouded with the last shards of night but they soon grew aware.  
Deep brown eyes, like melted chocolate.  
Eyes that were pleasant and as warm as his dreams and his gentle breathing but Destiny's body had gone rigid with frozen fear.  
They are Takashi Bakura's eyes.  
The boy rolled onto his side and stared right through Destiny, who cannot stop staring into those eyes.  
Shifting into a sitting position, the boy runs his hand directly through Destiny's forehead so as to draw back the sky colored curtains.  
While Destiny draws back the urge to scream.  
With the curtains back and streams of golden light embracing the empty walls, the boy sat up, stretched, and hopped off the bed. Destiny felt the tickle of his hair brush her cheek like a faint whisper, it soft like silk and smelled of mint.  
The boy crossed the room in his socked feet and went to the drawer where he began extracting jeans and a t-shirt.  
Laying the clothes out neatly on the bed, the boy yanked off his pajama shirt. Destiny felt heat creep up her face and she quickly ducked down on the bed, burying her face in the boy's pillow. She waited a long time to be safe before finally emerging again to see the boy attempting to run a brush through his thick mane of pure white hair.  
Destiny marveled at it. She couldn't help it. It was like cotton, and vanilla ice cream, and snow banks, and sea foam.  
_He must be half albino,_ Destiny thought, _hair isn't usually like that._  
"Stupid hair" the boy muttered, hissing through gritted teeth as he attacked a particularly tight knot.  
Destiny raised an eyebrow. He had a rather thick British accent, and it made his words roll from his lips, pleasant and smooth; like butter melting in a pan.  
Finally, he gave up on the hair. Setting the brush down on his dresser, the boy surveyed his reflection in the mirror.  
To Destiny, he looked ordinary enough and yet…  
_Oh geez, he's leaving the room!_  
Destiny leapt up from her reclining position on the bed and sprinted across the room, just barely making it before the boy closed the door.  
Destiny knew she could probably float through solid walls but she didn't want to take any chances.  
The boy strode down a short hallway with his hands jammed into the pockets of his worn jeans.  
Destiny really wanted to touch his hair, run her fingers through it. It looked like so much fun to play with.  
Destiny stopped in the middle of the hallway.  
That was a weird comment.  
The boy entered a small kitchen and fumbled through several cabinets; gathering up a bowl, spoon, a box of cereal, and, with a quick trip to the fridge, added a carton of milk to the mix.  
As the boy prepared his breakfast, Destiny stared around her. There was the hall that led to his bedroom as well as a bathroom and one other room. A quick glance in the latter told her that it was an adult's room but it didn't look lived in for weeks. There was a fine film of silvery dust trailing patterns across every object in the room.  
The door at the other end of the kitchen seemed to lead to a living room; this was also empty.  
Slightly startled, Destiny realized that this boy was all alone in the apartment, and probably had been for a long time.  
Destiny crossed the room and hovered over the boy as he munched away at his cereal staring blankly off into space.  
Cautiously, Destiny reached out and brushed the top of the boy's head.  
Again the boy stiffened, as the cold returned; slipping down his back like melting ice cubes.  
"Drafty in here" the boy whispered, shifting slightly in his seat in an attempt to conserve his body heat.  
Destiny quickly withdrew her hand.  
The space of a sigh passed before the chimes of a doorbell shattered the lonely silence.  
Both Destiny and the boy jumped about a foot in the air.  
"'Coming" the boy called, half tripping over his chair as he hurried towards the door, with Destiny close behind.  
The boy opened the door to reveal a slightly breathless delivery man.  
"Hey kid, I'm looking for a Ryou Bakura" the man said, adjusting his package from one hand to the other.  
"Well you're looking right at him" Ryou Bakura said with a pleasant smile.  
"Oh" the man replied, flushing slightly "my apologies, here you go" he added, thrusting the package into Ryou's hands.  
"Thanks" Ryou said politely "I bet it's a present from my father" he added, gazing down at the box.  
"You need to sign this" the man said bluntly, handing Ryou a clip board and pen.  
"Right" Ryou muttered, setting the box down on the floor and quickly scribbling his name across the page.  
"Well, have a nice day kid" the delivery man said with a slight wave before turning on his heel and heading down the hall towards an elevator.  
So they were in an apartment.  
"Bye" Ryou called as he closed the door.  
He then turned back to the box "I wonder what this could be" he exclaimed as he heaved the box onto the coffee table.  
_Three guesses_, Destiny thought sarcastically.  
Ryou disappeared into the kitchen for a moment; coming back, soon after, with a box cuter.  
As he poised it above the box, Destiny felt her breath catch in her throat, Takashi's voice echoed in her mind  
"I'm going to give it to my son as a birthday present."  
Destiny didn't understand her anxiety as she watched Ryou open the box and begin riffling through the pink packing peanuts.  
What was it about this Item that made her so nervous?  
"Wow" Ryou suddenly cried and Destiny leapt out of her shoes.  
She stared at the white haired boy as he gently extracted the Millennium Ring from the depths of the box, holding it as gingerly as though it was made of glass.  
"This is incredible dad" Ryou whispered as though his father could hear him somehow, although he was miles away in Egypt.  
Ryou set the Ring down beside the box and then reached into it again to find a small tattered note.  
_Creepy Ring_, Destiny thought as she watched the Item gleam from its place on the table.  
She glanced back at Ryou to see him reading the note most likely from his father.  
Closing her eyes, Destiny stretched her mind hands further into Ryou's soul and, when she reopened her eyes, she found that she was looking directly through Ryou's eyes and down at the note.  
It said the following:  
_

_**Dear Ryou,  
Sorry I couldn't be home for your birthday, I hope this makes up for it. I know how interested you are in all of my findings and this one is particularly fascinating; it's called the Millennium Ring and it's supposedly five thousand years old.  
It's one of a kind, just like you.  
Happy Birthday, son  
I love you  
Dad.**_

"_Millennium Ring, huh?" Ryou asked to no one in particular, glancing down at the Item as he set the note aside.  
Destiny extracted herself from Ryou's direct point of view and returned to viewing him from the side.  
She bit her lip as she glanced down at the Ring once more.  
Ryou slowly reached down and grasped the Ring once more and held it close cradling it in his skinny arms.  
"Simply amazing, beautiful" Ryou whispered as he gazed down at the Ring, stroking its surface lovingly.  
Destiny did have to admit: like all of the Items, the Millennium Ring was flawlessly gorgeous; a true Egyptian treasure.  
"It's warm" Ryou observed as his fingers continued to caress the Ring "like a stone that's been lying in the sun."  
Destiny's stomach flip-flopped at this remark.  
_So it doesn't hurt him either?_ Destiny thought, _instead it feels pleasant to him?  
_Again, Destiny felt that reasonless fear.  
Ryou turned the Millennium Ring over in his fingers, smiling down upon it all the time like a sports player holding a prize trophy.  
"It appears you can wear it as a necklace" Ryou observed, trailing his finger over a loop at the top of the Ring.  
Destiny raised an eyebrow.  
The boy gazed around the room and then, quickly crossed it, over to a set of drawers below a silver trimmed mirror. Riffling through the top drawer for a few seconds, he finally extracted a piece of thick rope.  
"This ought to do it" Ryou exclaimed as he looped the rope through the Ring's hole, he then held it up.  
"Perfect" he whispered before draping it against his chest and tying the knot at the end to seal its position around his neck.  
It hung off the boy's shoulders like an absurdly large pendent.  
However, once the Ring came to rest against the boy's chest, Ryou's face went chalk white and his eyes widened in strained surprise.  
Destiny yelped in shock as Ryou's knees buckled from apparent exhaustion and he halfway sank to the floor. Only by gripping the corners of the drawer was he able to keep himself upright.  
"Heavier than it looks" Ryou whispered breathlessly, slightly shaken as he gave his reflection a strained smile.  
Destiny could see sweat trickle down his cheek.  
"Maybe it's not meant to be worn as a necklace" Ryou muttered as he unwound the Ring from his neck and placed it on the table once more, instantly straightening up as he did so.  
_Yes, that's it_, Destiny thought, _now chuck that creepy Ring!_  
But there was no way Ryou could hear her.  
Destiny gazed at the Ring as Ryou gathered up the box and returned to the kitchen most likely to dispose of it. Once he was out of sight, Destiny slowly strolled over to the drawers, where the Ring was resting, and apprehensively reached towards it.  
Being nothing more than a bodiless soul, Destiny's hand passed straight through the Item but she still felt that searing warmth against her 'pretend' skin.  
Destiny whipped around as Ryou reentered the room; he made a move to sit down on the couch but stopped when his eye caught the Millennium Ring's gleam.  
He paused in a half sitting position and stared transfixed at the Ring and then, as though hypnotized, slowly rose to his feet and strode over to the Ring once more.  
_"What are you doing?"_ Destiny screamed as she sidestepped so that Ryou wouldn't reach through her again. But, of course, Ryou Bakura paid her no mind.  
He instead reached down and, once again, ran his fingers across the Ring, like he was stroking a beloved pet.  
"Beautiful" he whispered in a tone of awe.  
Then, he grasped the rope, now coiled around the Ring like a snake, and gently slipped it around his neck once more.  
_"Don't-"_Destiny cried, reaching out to him but her fingers just slipped right through and this time Ryou did not even notice her icy touch.  
His posture had dipped with fatigue, once more, but he had a better handle on it this time as he once again gripped the edge of the table.  
Ryou gazed up at the mirror admiring the Ring's reflection.  
"Strangely captivating" Ryou murmured as he trailed his fingers across the Ring's five sharpened tassels.  
But Ryou suddenly drew his hand back with a slight gasp of pain, holding up his finger Destiny could see a thin rivet of blood trickling from a perfect wound the size of a pin head.  
Destiny let out a strained whimper.  
Ryou gazed at his cut as though he'd never seen blood before and then turned back to his reflection which showed his face with a slightly bemused expression.  
Destiny's brow furrowed. Why was he amused by the Ring pricking his finger?  
But, when she turned to look at Ryou, as she was now standing beside him, she saw that his face had gone even paler then before and it was not as amused as the reflection, it was afraid.  
Destiny gasped and then whipped her head back to the reflection which was now smiling, no smirking back to Ryou.  
Ryou's jaw dropped and he suddenly winced once more and grabbed at his chest where the Ring had begun to glow gold like that of Pegasus's Millennium Eye.  
Destiny stared, rooted to the spot, too terrified to move and completely helpless even if she wasn't.  
The reflection's smirk widened and it cocked its face to the side like a confused dog but still retaining that sickeningly pleased expression.  
It was Ryou's face, and yet it wasn't.  
Ryou buckled with a mixed cry of pain and alarm as the Ring's glow brightened and he fell to his knees before the mirror with his repulsive twin, who did not follow his movements, but rather towered over the boy, crossing his arms over his chest. A smile broke to show slightly sharpened teeth.  
The reflection's eyes flashed to a bright crimson red while Ryou's own milk chocolate irises swam with pure terror.  
Then the reflection laughed, a sick, twisted, cackle, which reeked of pure insanity. It was harsh and loud and terrible and it grated across Destiny's skin like needles or a cold breeze, like the freezing aura of the Millennium Ring._

_Ryou screamed and the reflection laughed.  
Destiny screamed and the reflection laughed harder.  
Two pairs of hands flew to their owner's ears.  
Two screams shattered the early morning tranquility.  
Two screams that blurred into one as the world dissolved.  
Pure terror; that blurred like the room; shifting across two locations, stretching through two distant souls._

And then there was only one scream and Destiny Pegasus sat bolt upright in a sweaty nest of tangled sheets with a feeling of fire in her chest and the laugh still echoing plainly through her head.  
_  
__  
_


	12. Chapter 12

"_**You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along."  
**______**Eleanor Roosevelt**___

Destiny wormed her way from her vines of sheets and clambered to the floor. With a quick glance at the clock, she saw that the time was almost 2:00 am. Blindly, she stumbled through the room, stubbing her toe on an armchair and tripping over a discarded boot. She jump about eight feet in the air when a sudden clatter echoed throughout the shadows. Destiny whipped around and nearly smacked into the wall which caused her to scream again (but more from fright then pain). Destiny pressed her moist forehead against the cool wall in an attempt to calm herself, but the events of the vision would not cease.  
That face.  
That laugh.  
A tremor shimmered down Destiny's spine as she trailed her fingers along the wall's rough surface, searching for the light.  
Finding it, she gratefully plunged the room into a golden haze that alarmed her tired eyes but she was still pleased in its presence.  
Crossing the room, she found the source of the sudden clatter when she'd been stumbling about and picked it up. It was her much loved copy of _Jekyll and Hyde_. Destiny gazed down at the worn binding for a full minute. Soaking in the alarming similarities of its depiction of Jekyll's torment to what she'd just witnessed.  
Hyde's luring sneer and Jekyll's petrified eyes.  
_I wonder if Hyde started as a reflection, _Destiny thought as she set the book down and turned back to face the room.  
Her own reflection caught her eye and her heart nearly leapt from her throat as she had a quick, silly notion that it too was smiling and laughing.  
But no, she was just imagining things.  
She wished she'd imagined all of it.  
At the pace of a sleepwalker, Destiny moved towards the mirror and pressed her hand to the glass, her reflection thankfully mimicked.  
Destiny gazed at herself.  
Her olive skin shimmered with sweat and her silver hair was plastered to her cheeks and forehead. Her mouth was half open in delayed shock and her eyes flashed brightly with a fire of fear.  
She looked half mad.  
Destiny pulled her hand from the mirror and noticed that two of the buttons on her PJ top had come undone in her fitful sleep.  
She made a move to refasten them but paused when she noticed that the black Mark on her chest was partially exposed.  
Destiny gazed at it.  
Was it her imagination, or had the Mark grown bigger?

Destiny tried to return to sleep but dreams would not ensnare her. Every time she removed light from her room and drowned herself in darkness, she could see the blood red eyes of Ryou Bakura's reflection gazing at her from across the room.  
Like the image was burned on the inside of her eyelids.  
That laugh rolling through her head on repeat like a broken record.  
Destiny clapped her hands to her ears and squeezed her eyes shut but the laughing would not cease.  
Finally, she gave up and slipped off the bed once more and into her slippers. Noiselessly, she padded across the room and out the door to the living room area of the suite, wondering what TV shows they played in Egypt at 2:30 in the morning.  
At the bend of the hall, she saw the faded fingers of light stretching into the shadows.  
Pegasus was still up.  
Destiny strolled into the kitchen, running a brush through her tangled hair as she went but as usual her thick mane of silvery locks would not budge from its current mess.  
"What are you still doing up?" Destiny inquired to her brother as she set the brush down on the coffee table with a deep yawn.  
Pegasus was sitting at the kitchen table with his paints splayed about him, the room reeked of oil. Pegasus glanced up, the Millennium Eye glowed alarmingly bright as though to say hello.  
At the sight of it, Destiny's knees buckled and she quickly sat down on the couch.  
"Might I ask the same of you" was Pegasus's response as he delicately poised a small paint brush over a strip of thick paper.  
Destiny shrugged "couldn't sleep, had a nightmare" she replied bluntly in an attempt to play it down but it was in vain.  
Pegasus set the paint brush down and rubbed the roof of his nose.  
"What did you see?" he asked.  
"Something really scary" Destiny replied drawing her knees into her chest "it wasn't just a common bad dream. I don't really want to talk about it."  
Pegasus smiled and shook his head.  
"Nice try Destiny, you look like you've seen a ghost" he said.  
_Maybe I did _Destiny thought.  
Pegasus cocked his head.  
"You know I could find out by reading your mind" he said thoughtfully.  
"Don't Pegasus; I'm not even fully sure what I saw anyways" she snapped as she slowly got to her feet and strode over to the table.  
"What are you working on anyways" she demanded needing to momentarily change the subject.  
It worked; Pegasus's eyes light up at Destiny's inquiry and he tenderly lifted the painted strip from the grimy table.  
"This, Destiny" Pegasus replied dramatically "is the key to our success".  
Destiny raised an eyebrow, her dream partially forgotten as she gently took the strip from her brother.  
It was what appeared to be some kind of card.  
Painted upon the card was a brilliant drawing of some kind of man and yet, perhaps it was the glint of fresh paint; it was far more than a man. He was cloaked in robes of blue and deep purple with a rather absurd pointed hat shielding most of his face from view. He had a thin, pointed face and long dark blue hair, his heavily lidded eyes, partially concealed by his hat, shone with a determined malice. He was poised with a carved, bright green staff in his hand which was pointed out at Destiny as though to strike.  
"What is this?" Destiny asked as she gazed down at the card.  
"The first step to the resurrection of the Shadow Games" Pegasus explained as he got to his feet and began to pace the room "you see, five millennia ago the spirits of the Monsters used for the Shadow Games were sealed away within stone tablets so as to control them."  
Destiny gaped at her brother "okay so are you planning to somehow draw the Monster's from the tablets?"  
Pegasus nodded "Yes, with my Millennium Eye and then I shall transfer them into playing cards."  
"Why?" Destiny inquired.  
"It will be easier to play with a card game rather than giant stone slabs controlled with your soul" Pegasus replied with a shrug.  
"Yeah, that definitely sounds easier" Destiny muttered with a weak smile "but, might I ask; where these stone tablets are?"  
Pegasus scratched his head "all over the place really we'll have to do some digging particularly in and around the Valley of Kings."  
"Did you Millennium Eye tell you that?" Destiny asked bitterly as she set the card down on the table once more.  
Pegasus chuckled weakly at this "yeah, it did" he replied "but don't worry, it'll all work out in the end; like I always say: nothing in life is ever easy."  
"Right" Destiny muttered as she flopped down on the couch the late hours finally beginning to creep back on her.  
"So, what are we going to do?" she asked as she snagged a pillow and snuggled it against her chest.  
"Well, the first thing we'll do is track down all of the tablets and make as many cards as possible and then I think we'll head for America to set up a card company."  
"What!" Destiny cried as she tossed the pillow aside and sat up on the couch to stare at her brother "America?"  
Pegasus regarded her quizzically.  
"Is there a problem with that?"  
_No, _Destiny thought, _I just haven't been to America in nearly seven years. It was my birth country but I barely remember it."_  
"There's nothing to worry about, sis" Pegasus reassured, leaning forward to ruffle her hair "you'll fit right in."  
Destiny bit her lip and nodded. Not really growing up in any specific country, Pegasus had raised her as American as possible, so he was probably right.  
"Anyway, I think tracking down the Nameless Pharaoh's tomb again will be helpful; considering he closed the Shadow Games" Pegasus added thoughtfully "but our main priority will be launching the company and making cards like the Dark Magician over there" Pegasus gestured to the card on the table.  
Destiny snickered.  
"Dark Magician, seriously?" she asked with a grin.  
"What?" Pegasus demanded, his half hidden face reflecting mock hurt "I think it's a cool name."  
"Whatever, but if you do make more of those card thingies maybe _I _could name them? No offense, Pegasus; but that name is pretty lame". Pegasus chuckled as he sat down beside her and gently lifted her onto his lap, he groaned slightly in doing so.  
"Man, this was easier before. Since when did you become so big?"  
"I'm almost eleven, Pegasus" Destiny replied as she snuggled into his chest. She fondly remembered the days when she used to bounce upon Pegasus's lap.  
"Heck, Destiny I remember when I could hold you in the palm of my hand" Pegasus reminisced as he held up his hand in a fist for emphasize.  
Destiny stared at him and Pegasus smiled sheepishly.  
"That's probably an exaggeration" he muttered, opening his hand  
"Not necessarily, your hands are like baseball mitts" Destiny replied, placing her own pixie like hand into her brother's palm.  
Pegasus closed his fingers around Destiny's hand, he leaned in close and nuzzled her hair  
"Did I ever tell you you're my favorite sister?"  
"I'm you're only sister, Pegasus" Destiny cried, playfully punching her brother's shoulder with her free hand.  
"Of course, but you still my favorite" Pegasus replied twirling a lock of her thick silvery hair "Now, about that dream…" Pegasus added, his voice suddenly becoming serious.  
Destiny's heart clenched as the nightmare resurfaced in her mind, squeezing her eyes shut she leaned into her brother's chest once more and relayed the entirety of her vision of Ryou Bakura receiving the Millennium Ring to Pegasus. When it was over, she could feel Pegasus's heart hammering from shock just beneath her ear.  
"What the heck-"Pegasus murmured.  
"Pegasus…" Destiny whimpered "are you absolutely positive that we need _all _the Items in order to resurrect Cecelia?"  
Pegasus's brow creased "I'm pretty sure Destiny, in order to unlock the One True Power anyway" he replied grimly.  
"But, Pegasus" Destiny whispered, looking up at her brother with wide eyes "the Millennium Ring…there's something about it…it really scares me."  
Pegasus sighed as he pushed his hair from his face, causing the Millennium Eye to flicker slightly "I don't know what's up with the Ring, Destiny; but, apparently, there's more to the Items then we previously thought. I guess that just means we're going to have be extra careful" he glanced down at Destiny with a solemn and tired expression, the late night was beginning to affect him too.  
"I knew we were dealing with dangerous stuff here, but I never…" his voiced trailer off.  
Destiny gripped Pegasus shoulder as she shifted downward in his lap "it's going to be alright though, right?" she almost demanded.  
Pegasus's only response was a shake of the head as with a grunt he heaved himself off the couch while still holding Destiny in his arms and begin to slowly carry his sister back to the hotel bedroom they shared.  
"I don't know, Destiny; but it's too late to discuss this any further, I know that's not very comforting but I can't lie to you; I really have no idea what we're up against."  
_You and me both, _Destiny transmitted, too tired to speak aloud any longer as her lids began to slip shut and her body ached with fatigue.  
Pegasus laughed quietly as he slipped into the room and gently laid Destiny down on the bed again.  
Destiny shifted onto her back and smiled up at her brother whose glistening Millennium Eye was all that could be seen through the early morning gloom. It was true that neither sibling knew just what they were up against or what drastic events were soon to occur in just a few short years but, at that moment, neither cared. As Destiny watched her brother collapse on his stomach onto the bed beside her with a sigh, she knew as long as she was with her brother she was safe and there was nothing they couldn't accomplish together  
Even beating the enemy of Death.  
"Pegasus" Destiny asked, a sudden thought occurring to her "if we're going back to America does that mean we have to go see _them_?"


	13. Chapter 13

IMPORTANT: Okay, let me just get this out of the way. In the original Yugioh series the story mostly takes place in the fictional city of Domino City. However, my version takes place in a real city as it's easier to write it that way for me. Therefore, Yugioh is centered in Boston MA.  
Just keep that in mind before you flame me.  
Read on!

"_**As a child my family's menu consisted of two choices: take it or leave it."  
**__**Buddy Hackett**__  
_

Destiny was as silent as the grave the following morning at breakfast.  
She sat in a weighted, hunched over position, munching her eggs with her mind far away in the midst of nothing.  
Pegasus watched his younger sister and the more he saw the less he liked. Destiny's hair was thick and matted from lack of proper tending and a decent haircut. In fact; Destiny had never received a professional haircut in her life. Pegasus simply hacked away at any loose strands with the closest pair of scissors whenever it got too wild. Her skin was sunburned and peeling in places from hours of staggering about in the stifling Egyptian sun. But it was her eyes that really got Pegasus. They were a unique dark blood color, framed in deep black bags from lack of sleep. They shifted frantically in a futile panic from the past events. As well as they held a look of one far older than the body that housed them. Pegasus sighed as he face-palmed and let his spoon clatter into his cereal. He had always known that he hadn't been properly raising Destiny but the thought had been plaguing him now more than ever. How could she possibly be considered to have a life when she'd never had a true place to call home and her big brother had been the only one that she'd ever known as her best friend? He was chasing away his grief but, at the same time, he was denying his sister the normalcy she deserved. The normalcy they both deserved. And now, because of the Items, they would never be normal again. The visions, Destiny could never go to school like that. Not to mention the useful but obtrusive Millennium Eye lodged obscenely in Pegasus's eye socket. Yes, he had failed in his raising of Destiny, forced her to grow up far too early and yet she had gone along with it just as she was going along with it now.  
His loyal baby sister; whom Pegasus would lay down his life for without hesitation.  
Pegasus grimaced at the thought of anything happening to Destiny as he watched her push her half eaten plate aside and bury her head in her entwined arms. Moving back to America was like killing two birds with one stone: opening the company would further help their search for the Items and yet at the same time it would give Destiny a stable environment in which she'd salvage whatever childhood she had left. If any. It wouldn't be like the average family home but Pegasus could never give that to her. He would if he could though.  
A sudden moan emitting from Destiny tugged Pegasus from his deep thoughts. Using the Eye, he reached to her mind and could feel the terror of yet another nightmare. As if the visions weren't bad enough; ever since the encounter with Shadi, the Millennium Item Keeper, a single horrific dream, that was of no one's mind but Destiny's, had rocked and swirled around in the young girl's thoughts. A midnight mare of being ripped apart. Destiny hadn't uttered a single word to her older brother about the dream but he did not even need the Eye in order to know of its weight upon the ten-year-old's thoughts. Her late night screeches were enough. He was probably giving himself too much credit but, all the same, Pegasus could not shake the feeling that he was responsible for the horrific dreams. Already knowing that the Visions (he was starting to capitalize them in his mind) were his doing. Occasionally, Pegasus would wonder what they would be doing right now if he had heeded Shadi's warning and they'd not followed him into the hidden crypt. No, they'd be aimlessly wandering the world as they had been for nearly a decade. At least now there was purpose.  
A groan escaped Pegasus's lips as he watched Destiny doze hidden within her arms. He was sure he would be brutally judged at his raising of his sister, especially when they went to visit _them_. Just the thought of it made Pegasus squirm. Destiny raised her head and gave her brother a smudged and dazed look.  
"Pegasus do you think _they _are still mad at me?" she almost pleaded.  
Pegasus raised an eyebrow; memories of the custody war slinking back into his mind. It had been a curious case indeed; a four year old girl and her barely teenaged brother preferring to live with an unstable father rather than their wealthy maternal grandparents. _Them_ as they had begun to be called when the siblings dared to speak of it. Pegasus had avoided his mother's hostile and begrudging parents after Destiny's upbringing had been surprisingly bestowed to him (mostly due to the consent of his deceased mother.) How fitting that his only living family members held a bitter resentment towards him. After their father had walked out, Destiny and Pegasus were forced by a group of lawyers (whose exact number Pegasus had forgotten) to return to their mother's home of Boston Massachusetts and their grandparents. However, their visit was brief. As soon as Pegasus turned eighteen he returned to court and pleaded custody. And, surprisingly, he'd won. So, he and Destiny had made quick use of their newly bestowed passports and jumped the boarder. They had avoided their grandparents ever since; as they most likely hated Pegasus by now. He just couldn't seem to do anything right.  
"They were never mad at you to begin with, Destiny" Pegasus whispered as he leaned across the table to squeeze his sister's shoulder.  
"I don't want to go stay with them, Pegasus" Destiny suddenly blurted, banging her fist on the table. "They don't like you and they didn't like our dad."  
Pegasus sighed. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately. "You can't really blame them for being resentful, Destiny. But, don't worry; we won't be staying with them for long. I promise we'll get our own place as soon as possible" Pegasus explained, getting to his feet.  
"Now, I'm going to go sell a few paintings for our plane tickets to America. You stay her and behave. Okay?" Pegasus explained as he bent down to peck his sister a quick kiss on the top of the head.  
"What should I do?" Destiny asked, spinning around in her seat so as to follow her brother while he got his stuff together.  
"Well, first of all, put that plate in the sink and then start getting your stuff together. We'll be leaving for America by tomorrow at the latest" he replied, slinging his easel over his shoulder and then, with a tip of his fedora, slipped out the door to leave Destiny alone in the empty hotel suite.

"I wonder why bananas are yellow" Destiny murmured as she peeled said fruit and jammed a huge gooey hunk into her mouth. "I mean, why do they start out green and then turn yellow? It's like the plant changes its mind or something" she added as she deposited the peel into the trash. Destiny groaned as she turned to face the lumpy pile of clothes, book, papers, and various other objects of hers that she'd splayed across the small living room. She really had accumulated a lot of stuff from her travels over the years. Mostly small things, however.  
"If I can't carry it it's not coming with us" Pegasus often stated, especially after Destiny had begged and pleaded for hours for a lavish grand piano she'd seen in a store window in Paris.  
With another groan, Destiny slumped to her knees and began to unceremoniously cram object after object into her hot pink suitcase.  
Destiny wasn't particularly fond of the color but Pegasus said you could spot it in the dark so it'd be easy to see amongst the other luggage at the airport.  
Airport, Destiny wondered how many of _those_ she'd been to as she continued to shove clothes into her suitcase. It would be weird not traveling around anymore but, at the same time, now Destiny would finally be able to see how normal people lived.  
"Well semi-normal anyway" Destiny said as she picked up her sketchbook.  
What lay beneath its pages; recounts of the Visions, Destiny shuddered with the thought. It wasn't the Visions themselves that were terrifying, but rather the fact that she was _inside _someone; literally within their mind and soul.  
_And the most terrifying part is that I can't control it, _Destiny thought as she jammed her sketchbook into its usual place in her carry-on satchel. The next and final object to pack was wrapped in faded, slightly wrinkled tissue paper; FRAGILE was written along the side in Pegasus's loopy lettering.  
Destiny brushed her fingers across the worn surface, feeling the smooth glass just beneath.  
Cecelia's mirror.  
Destiny allowed herself a small smile as she gently unfurled the paper to reveal the gorgeous gold mirror studded with the little pink roses.  
Yes, Cecelia always had a thing for roses, especially pink ones.  
Destiny liked roses too, although she preferred the purple ones.

"Do you know why I like roses, Destiny?" Cecelia asked, tucking one of the exquisite blooms behind the toddler's ear.  
"No, Cecelia" Destiny replied, shaking her head.  
Cecelia leaned in close.  
"I'll tell you why. I like roses because roses are like life: even in the thorns of hard times, something pretty always grows."  
"Really?" Destiny asked, picking up another of the pale pink flowers.  
"Indeed" Cecelia replied as she inhaled the rose's sweet fragrance with a smile. Then, she leaned in close and kissed Destiny on the forehead.  
"Don't let the thorns of life get you down, sweetheart" she whispered "your life is what you make out it. No one decides it for you. Remember that."

"I will, Cecelia" Destiny murmured, brushing wet from under her eyes and then closed them in the hopes of clearing away the painful emotions.  
That was a mistake.

_Rip  
Tear  
Slash  
Burn  
Stop the pain, let me die!  
Stop this agony, of being torn to shreds!  
__**Stop!**_

Destiny's eyes snapped open and she quickly placed the mirror in the side pocket of her suitcase.  
"Shake it off, shake it off" she muttered as she did this.  
But she couldn't.

_Yugi Muto stretched out across the tangled sheets of his bed, feeling incredibly restless. He coughed three times and then sneezed twice while changing the TV channel four times. He stopped, however, when his bedroom door slipped open with a slight creak.  
His grandfather's big plum-colored eyes peered at him from between the slit.  
"How you feeling?" he asked.  
"Sick" Yugi replied, his voice thick with illness "really crummy, gramps" he added with another cough.  
"Yeah, that flu; it'll do it to you" Grandpa Muto muttered as he slid into the room to reveal a tray laden with tomato soup and a tall glass of orange juice.  
"Do you feel like eating?" the old man inquired as he strode over to the bed.  
Yugi shrugged.  
"Not really" he replied "maybe later, though" he added as his grandfather turned to go.  
"Oh, okay" Grandpa Muto muttered, setting the tray down on his grandson's bedside table and then heading for the door.  
"Call me if you need anything" he added before exiting the room.  
"Okay" Yugi called after him. The young boy waited until his grandfather's retreating footsteps could no longer be heard before he quickly ducked under the covers. He resurfaced, two seconds later, holding the small golden box that contained the Millennium Puzzle.  
Destiny's stomach tightened at the sight of the Item.  
"Since I have nothing better to do, I may as well try to finish this" Yugi whispered as he picked up one of the 3D pieces and held it aloft to examine it. "Gramps says it's impossible but I disagree" he added.  
Destiny leaned forward to peer into the box to see that the Puzzle was more than halfway done._

"Hey Destiny, Destiny, Destiny, WAKE UP SLEEPING BEAUTY!"  
"Gah! That was unnecessary, Pegasus"  
"It was very necessary, sis. You were sleeping sounder then a dead man."  
"Mmmm."  
"Anyway, we're here"  
"Where's here?"  
"Welcome to Boston Massachusetts USA, Destiny"  
"Achoo!"


	14. Chapter 14

Horray, get ready for some really awkward, soap opera-esque family drama! Introducing Destiny and Pegasus's asshole grandparents! *facepalm

"_**What children need most are the essentials that grandparents provide in abundance. They give unconditional love, kindness, patience, humor, comfort, lessons in life, and, most importantly, cookies."  
~Rudolph Giuliani**_

The city of Boston was a strange place for young Destiny Pegasus. It was small, busy, and old. Brick and leaning, with narrow cobblestone streets filled with rushing cars and people. The city had a unique beauty that was heavily accented with the never-ending scent of the sea. It held a cozy and warm aura even on the cloudiest of days. Today was one of those days. It was mid-October and the air was crisp and ripe with thin winds and frantic leaves that chased away the summer haze. The trees were ablaze with the flames of autumn leaves and the pale sky held the promise of rain. Destiny trudged along the narrow sidewalk in a brooding manner, lagging her feet and picking at the hem of her dress.  
"Stop lollygagging, Destiny" Pegasus called over his shoulder. "There's no point in delaying the inevitable."  
"But do I really have to do _this,_ Pegasus?" Destiny demanded.  
"Do what?" Pegasus asked, without turning around.  
"This!" Destiny replied, waving her arms around her outfit; which consisted of a lavender sundress, maroon Mary Jane's, and a turquoise cardigan with a matching bow that Pegasus had somehow managed to tie into her hair.  
Pegasus glanced at the outfit.  
"It's not that bad" he commented after a pause of observation.  
"Are you kidding?" Destiny cried. "This is ridiculous. I look like an American Girl Doll."  
"Well, that's good then" Pegasus said with a smile as he shouldered one of his bags and went back to walking. "You're already blending with the culture."  
"I meant one of those ones from the 1930s" Destiny muttered as she lugged her own suitcase along in a now frantic dash to keep up with her brother.  
Pegasus chuckled. "It's not my fault our grand-folks aren't fond of the idea of little girls running around in T-shirts and khakis" he said simply.  
Destiny glanced up at the rows of smashed-together brick mini-mansions of Beacon Hill and thought about her grandparents. She didn't remember much of them, having been so small when she'd last seen them; but she'd learned from Pegasus that they were not the typical stereotype grandparents. She knew that, once they arrived, there would be no screen door being thrown open, no warm hug and beaming eyes behind wire rimmed spectacles, no messy gray curls, or exclamations of how big they'd both gotten, no living room where football was playing, no big guts and unclean shaves, no aprons or kitchens smelling of fresh platters of chocolate chip cookies.  
No, none of that.  
"Well, here we are" Pegasus announced and Destiny's heart changed places with her stomach as she beheld yet another red brick mini-mansion.  
However, this one had a small garden in the front, framed with dozens of rose bushes of various shades of pink, red, and white (no purple.) A cobblestone path wormed its way through the neat lawn to a set of two stones step and up to the front door.  
Destiny gripped her brother's sleeve with her free hand and the other's palm began to chaff from how hard she was gripping her suitcase.  
Pegasus glanced down at his little sister.  
"Can you see it?" he asked.  
"No" Destiny replied but Pegasus brushed frantically at his silky silver hair all the same before slowly opening the iron gate and he and Destiny moved as one through the garden and up the steps.

"You need a haircut" was the first words Destiny's grandfather said to Pegasus when he opened the door. Destiny gazed up at him from her half-hidden position behind her brother.  
Warren Mage was a tall, thin, stern looking man, with broad shoulders like Pegasus, and a hard, rather unpleasant face that scrutinized the two with a pair of cold black eyes behind a set of square glasses. His hair was stark grey and lay lean and flat across his scalp. He was dressed in a neat blue suit, with black tie and shoes and he stood entirely in the doorway as though he had no intention of letting them in.  
"How did you know it was me?" Pegasus asked with a forced smile.  
"Only Cyril's son would let himself go like that" Warren Mage replied thickly.  
"I'd hardly considered this to be letting myself go" Pegasus almost snapped back but Warren Mage wasn't listening. His eyes had fallen on Destiny, and she dropped her own to observe her Mary Jane's.  
"And you must be Destiny" he grunted.  
Destiny nodded, eyes still fixed on the ground.  
"Look at me when I'm talking to you" Warren Mage thundered and Destiny instantly obliged.  
"I see you haven't taught this girl a thing about manners" Warren said to Pegasus.  
Pegasus opened his mouth to respond but was interrupted.  
"Warren? Who's at the door?" a voice from within the house called.  
"Our estranged grandchildren, Priscilla" Warren replied, not drawing his piercing gaze from either of the siblings.  
"Well, I'll be. I'd thought they'd have starved to death in some providence in Africa by now" Destiny's grandmother snapped as she strutted down the hall to stand beside her husband.  
Pegasus shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other.  
"Hello, Nana" he mumbled to the ground.  
Destiny's grandmother was like a piece of straw: thin, stiff, and blonde. She had the same eyes as Pegasus: a bright hazel. However the held none of Pegasus's warmth but rather they were icy and brittle. Her short, light hair framed a pointed, narrow face that looked as though she had swallowed a rather large lemon. Her body was poised in an uptight manner with clothes that consisted of pearl jewelry, an orange turtle neck, and white pants.  
"Could you not have written?" Priscilla Mage demanded, crossing her arms. "The two of you could have been lying burned up in a desert with buzzards picking at your eye sockets for all we knew."  
Destiny grimaced at that unpleasant image but otherwise remained silent.  
How does one say: _oh, sorry, Nana and Gramps. We didn't write because you hate us for jumping the boarder so we wouldn't have to live with you.  
_"Get your hair off your face" Warren Mage suddenly ordered Pegasus. "You look as though you have something to hide."  
_You have no idea,_ Destiny heard Pegasus whisper through their mind link. His thoughts otherwise scrambling for an excuse not to uncover his face and reveal the Millennium Eye when he was saved.  
"Hey" a voice called. "Who's here?"  
Destiny and Pegasus both turned were they stood to see a middle aged man trooping around the side of the house; laden with buckets, with big feet encased in a grimy pair of Wellington boots. This man was large, hunched, and rather alarming. He had squinty, bright green eyes, a wide mouth, red-brown hair that was beginning to thin at the top, as well as a pair of enormous ears.  
The man stopped dead when he caught sight of Pegasus and Destiny standing awkwardly on the front step and his expression split into an even wider grin.  
"Well, I'll be" the man exclaimed, discarding his buckets and rushing up to the siblings. "Maximilian! Is that really you? My god, you're giant" he exclaimed as he embraced Pegasus, who looked slightly taken aback.  
"Jasper?" he asked, a little breathless as the man released him.  
"Yes, it's me!" the man called Jasper cried, nodding his head vigorously. "It's been forever since you were last here; nearly seven years, I believe. Look at you, all grown now. You look just like Rosalyn. So, what brings you state side might I ask?" he added in a rather rushed ramble.  
However, before Pegasus could reply, Jasper's shining emerald eyes fell on Destiny who was nudging at a fleck of dirt with her shoe and he was off again.  
"Good heavens! Is this little Destiny? Pardon, you're not little anymore. Are you? Practically a young women and the spitting image of your father. That's Cyril as a girl, that is."  
"Jasper" Destiny's grandmother suddenly snapped and Jasper instantly shut up.  
Destiny stifled a giggle as Jasper's cheeks burned slightly. She decided right there that she like him, whoever he was.  
Pegasus answered her unspoken question.  
"Destiny, I don't think you remember Jasper Moore. He's our grandparent's gardener and was friends with our mother as kids."  
"Nice to meet you" Destiny said shyly as she shook Jasper's hand.  
"Indeed, what a sweet little thing you are" Jasper exclaimed brightly, ruffling Destiny's hair.  
Warren Mage cleared his throat pointedly.  
"Well, I suppose you'll have to come in sooner or later" he said gruffly.  
"Yes, that'd be nice" Pegasus replied, readjusting the position of his suitcase on his shoulder.  
"Come along into the living room and be sure to remove your grimy shoes on the welcome mat. I don't want any mud on my nice clean floor" Priscilla added.  
Destiny and Pegasus quickly removed their loafers and Mary Jane's upon the mat, not feeling the least bit welcome.  
Warren Mage turned to Jasper.  
"Get back to work, Moore. Your break isn't until three."  
"Yes, sir" Jasper Moore said brightly. "I'll see ya in a bit, squirt" he added to Destiny with a wink as he walked back to his buckets and disappeared around the side of the house.  
Destiny gave Jasper a small wave before following Pegasus into the house.

The Mage's living room was like stepping back three hundred years into the past. There was an ornate, hand carved fire place, a beautiful coffee table, and gorgeous antique couches.  
"Bouncy" Destiny exclaimed as she dropped down onto the couch and began to jump up and down onto it.  
"Stop that this instant and act your age" Destiny's grandmother ordered.  
Pegasus slumped down onto the couch beside Destiny with a sigh.  
_How ya holding up? _Destiny asked through the mind link.  
_Barely, _Pegasus replied giving her a grim smile.  
"Misty" Priscilla Mage hollered down the hall. "Bring us some lunch and set it for four. We have guests."  
A few minutes later, a short Asian woman with a tight mouth and black hair tied into a bun shuffled into the room, carrying a tray of cucumber sandwiches and glasses of iced tea.  
"Thank you" Destiny said brightly as she gratefully accepted a sandwich and drink, having forgotten how hungry she was.  
Misty gave her a small smile before turning to give Pegasus and their grandparents their lunch and then quickly shifting back out of the room.  
They all sat in silence for a few moments, munching their sandwiches before Priscilla Mage finally broke the silence.  
"So, what exactly do you do for a living?" she asked Pegasus.  
"Uh, well I'm an artist…I paint portraits" Pegasus replied, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.  
"Huh, just like your father" Warren Mage snapped, sipping his tea through pursed lips. "An artist…Bah! Look where that got him."  
"Not very far, you don't even have a decent home, do you?" Priscilla demanded. "How do expect Destiny to live stably like this?"  
Pegasus closed his eyes. He'd expected this.  
"I don't mind" Destiny exclaimed, bouncing slightly on the couch again "I like going all over the place. It's fun."  
"Of course you'd think that" Priscilla said, waving her hand dismissively. "You are just an ignorant child. You don't know any better."  
Destiny opened her mouth; a witty retort poised on the tip of her tongue but Pegasus tapped her thigh pointedly and she snapped it shut again.  
"I understand the concerns for Destiny's well-being" Pegasus said, clearly struggling to keep his voice calm "and that is the reason for us returning to America in the first place. I am hoping to settle down and open my own company here in Boston."  
"Your own company?" Warren exclaimed. "That's an amateur move, an all or nothing shot."  
Pegasus licked his upper lip in an attempt to restrain himself.  
"Yes, I suppose so" he muttered.  
"Please stop" Destiny whispered suddenly causing everyone to look her way in alarm. "There's a lot neither of you understand about us and you shouldn't make such rash judgments."  
There was a moment of silence.  
"And what don't we understand?" Warren Mage asked, leaning forward in his arm chair.  
"Nothing" Pegasus cried clapping a hand over his sister's mouth.  
Warren raised an eyebrow and looked like he wanted to say something more but they were saved, yet again, by Jasper Moore as he entered the room.  
"I finished my work sir, ma'am" he said to their grandparents. "Would you like me to show the guests to their rooms?"  
"You may as well" Priscilla said with a sigh as Pegasus and Destiny jumped to their feet, glad the tension had broken.  
"Alright, come along then" Jasper said to the siblings, beckoning them out of the living room which they were very happy to leave.  
"I'm sorry about them" Jasper said quietly as they trooped up the stairs to the second floor.  
"Don't be" Pegasus replied "it's no big deal and, besides, I can't really say I blame them for being the way they are."  
Jasper shrugged "I guess so."

The sleeping arrangements were pretty straight forward. The Mage's mini-mansion had exactly eight bedrooms, all of which included bathrooms. Two of the rooms belonged to Jasper the gardener and Misty the cook and maid. The master bedroom was obviously occupied by the Mages. Pegasus was given the room that he used to stay in when he'd visited the house as a kid. Destiny was given a spare bedroom that was painted blue with a gold covered four poster and her own little balcony.  
Destiny lay on her bed above the covers in a satin night gown, staring blankly at the cover of her four poster bed. A quick glance at the clock told her that it was almost midnight but, as it had been so often for nearly a year, she had just too much on her mind for sleep to drag her down into a serene bliss.  
Destiny sighed as she shifted onto her stomach just for something to do.  
As expected, she didn't like her grandparents one little bit. They were snobby, pushy, and pompous, not to mention judgmental. Destiny hoped that their time here would be a brief one, she worried greatly what would happen if their grandparents discovered the secret of the Millennium Eye, or the other Items, or their plan to resurrect the Shadow Games.  
Destiny sat up on her elbows and stared at her pillow for a few seconds as though she was expecting it to do something. Finally, she slid off the bed and out the door.  
She padded down the hall, trailing her fingers along the wall for support.  
Finally, her fingers brushed the painted wood of a door and she slipped downward to turn the handle.  
This room was almost identical to her bedroom, however, the bed comforter was blue and the walls were green. Pegasus was draped across the bed, dozing softly with his hand laid out across his forehead to conceal the Eye.  
Destiny smiled slightly as she tip-toed across the room and clambered onto the bed.  
It had been a long time since she'd gotten into bed with Pegasus but her four poster bed just seemed too big and empty tonight.  
Destiny snuggled into the crook of her brother's arm with a sigh of contentment. Pegasus chuckled as he gently caressed her hair.  
"Good night, little sister" he whispered.

Author's note: Awww! Such a sweet ending.  
Woohoo! Over 400 views on my story! Now, how about some _re_views? Pretty please.  
What do you guys think of it so far? What do you think's going to happen next? What do you think of Pegasus and Destiny's bitchy grandparents and Jasper?_**  
**_


	15. Chapter 15

Prepare for a really sappy chapter…

"_**I remember my mother's prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life."  
~Abraham Lincoln**_

The following morning started before Destiny even woke up. Her grandparents left for their firm by six o'clock (both of them were lawyers.) Pegasus was up at five and spent the entire day in his room with the door locked. He rarely kept locked doors between them, therefore; Destiny knew better then to disturb them. It was Misty the maid's day off and she was spending it with her adult son across the city. So, by the time Destiny finally rolled out of bed around nine, the house was empty. Well, almost empty.  
"Morning, Destiny" Jasper Moore exclaimed, giving Destiny a warm smile over a cup of black coffee.  
"Huh?" Destiny asked, still rubbing the sleep from her eyes.  
"Your grand-folks left early and Max won't come out of his room so I guess it's just going to be you and me today."  
"Who's Max-Oh" Destiny mumbled as she slipped into the chair across from Jasper. "Sorry, I'm not used to him being called Max. He insisted I call him Pegasus."  
"Oh yeah, I noticed that" Jasper said, taking another sip of his drink before setting it down and getting to his feet.  
"Now then, what do you want for breakfast?"  
Destiny's head snapped up from its observation of her thighs, realization dawning on her. This was going to be her first home cooked meal. It wasn't going to be a foreign meal from a restaurant, hotel food, or a muffin from the airport Dunkin Donuts.  
"Uh, I guess scrambled eggs" Destiny finally said.  
"Coming right up" Jasper announced brightly, turning to the sink and beginning to dice and slice a couple pearl white eggs.  
"Does your brother ever put anything special in it that you like?" Jasper inquired after a moment.  
Destiny thought for a second. "I like when he puts peppers in it" she replied.  
"Sounds good" Jasper said with a grin, reaching into the fridge to retrieve a red pepper.  
"Here I'll dice that. I like knives" Destiny offered, leaping to her feet.  
Jasper raised an eyebrow.  
"Okay" he whispered as he passed her the pepper and a small carving knife.  
"You like knives, huh?" Jasper asked as he observed Destiny thrust the knife through the tender vegetable.  
Destiny shrugged. "Yeah, Pegasus says I can get my own knife when I turn fourteen."  
"Your_ own_ knife?" Jasper asked.  
"Yeah, one that I can carry around with me. You know, like a dagger or something" she explained.  
"Oh" Jasper turned back to nudge his spoon at the eggs. "You don't think like a normal ten year old do you?" he asked.  
Destiny shrugged again.  
There was a pause and then "Jasper?"  
"Hmm?"  
"You knew my mom as a kid right?"  
"Yes, I was orphaned when I was eight and was left to steal off the streets until I made over to Beacon Hill where you're grandparents found me and took me in as there gardener. They're not the nicest people in the world but I'm in their debt for giving me a home. But your mother was always kind to me. You know at school there was this one kid named Archie Withers who used to call me Elephant Head because of my ears and Rosalyn stuffed him into a trashcan."  
Jasper laughed fondly while Destiny looked on in alarm.  
"Yeah, your mom was amazing" Jasper said, as he gazed out the window. His eyes becoming distant.  
Destiny set the knife down and brushed the peppers off the cutting board and into the frying pan to mix with the eggs, not taking her eyes off Jasper the whole time.  
"Jasper, did you like my mom?"  
Jasper started. His eyes flew back to Destiny, looking alarmed for a moment but they soon crinkled in a slightly sad smile.  
"Yes, I did like her. I liked her a lot actually" he replied as he spilled the eggs onto a plate and then handed it to Destiny. "I wanted to marry her but she ran off with your father when they were seventeen and I didn't see her again until your brother was five."  
Destiny set the plate down on the table and stared at the mushy mess of yellow and red. "I'm sorry, Jasper" Destiny whispered, evading his gaze.  
Jasper shrugged. "It's no big deal, Destiny. She was happy with your father and that was what mattered. Cyril was a good man. I don't understand why your grandparent's didn't approve."  
Destiny's finger's tightened around her fork and she began stabbing brutally at her food. "Maybe it's because he wound up walking out on us" she muttered through gritted teeth. At the mention of her father old feelings, that Pegasus had insisted she'd push down, resurfaced.  
Jasper looked taken aback for a moment but he soon recovered. "Hey, don't be like that Destiny, your father loved your mother so much. She was everything to him. Losing her, he lost a piece of himself-."  
"And it's my fault" Destiny snapped "it's my fault my dad left, my mother died because of me after all."  
"Shut up!" Jasper cried, causing Destiny to glance up in shock. "You did not kill your mother; that kind of thing happens, Destiny. Death happens and there isn't anything any of us can do about it. Anyway, it isn't your fault. I don't want you to go blaming yourself for that. Your mother wouldn't want you to blame yourself for that."  
Destiny set her fork down with a sniff. Her eyes began to prickle.  
"Hey, it's okay" Jasper whispered soothingly, patting her shoulder.  
Destiny brushed wet from her eye and glanced up into Jasper's own jade green ones.  
"I'm sorry, it's just I don't get to talk about my parents much and coming here…Well, there are pictures of my mom everywhere" she paused. "I wish I could remember her."  
Jasper looked thoughtful. "You know, there is a way you can know your mother better" he said after a brief silence.  
Destiny raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?" she asked quietly.  
Jasper gave her a sly smile that was so like Pegasus.  
"Come on" he said, grabbing her wrist and tugging her from the table, leaving Destiny to shove the last forkful of egg into her mouth before being yanked into the hall.

Jasper led Destiny up the stairs and down the second floor corridor. Destiny cast a quick glance at Pegasus's closed door as she was led to the end of the hall.  
"What are we doing, Jasper?" Destiny asked but Jasper didn't respond. He instead came to a halt at the last door on the right hand side.  
Destiny stared at the door. "Jasper, what are we doing? My grandmother said I wasn't allowed to go in here."  
"What your grandmother doesn't know won't hurt her" Jasper replied with a wink as he fumbled out a set of keys and slid one into the lock.  
Destiny wasn't entirely convinced but she followed Jasper into the room all the same.  
The room beyond was a bedroom, much like the others; with a four poster bed and private balcony. The walls were painted pale pink and the carpet reminded Destiny of mint bubblegum. There were sketches of butterflies and flowers littered all along the walls as well as several multicolored paper lanterns suspended from the middle of the ceiling. The room was pleasant but rather strange as it was like stepping back in time, for it screamed '80s. Beside the numerous butterflies were posters of Michael Jackson, Madonna, and two movie posters for _Back to the Future _and _They Live_. A neon rainbow spilled from the walk-in closet and rested on the table by the bed was a massive black boom box.  
Destiny stared around. Her mouth slightly ajar.  
Jasper grinned. "Welcome to your mother's bedroom, Destiny."  
Destiny stared at him. "This is my mother's room?" she asked.  
Jasper nodded. "Yeah, your grandparent's kept it exactly the way it was when she left and haven't changed it a bit, even after she died. Personally, I think that defeats the whole purpose of it but, hey, it makes them happy."  
Destiny slowly moved forward, trailing her hands along the dresser which was draped in medals and crowded with trophies for various awards: such as art shows, cheerleading, and karate. Destiny spied a picture wedged between an art show gold and a karate silver. Grasping it, she lifted it into view. It was a picture of Jasper, who looked to be around Destiny's age. He had the same wide mouth and big ears but considerably more hair. He was sitting on a bench by Destiny's grandparent's backyard lily pond with a young girl with thick, strawberry blonde hair and bright shining hazel eyes that were the exact duplicate's to Pegasus's, the warmth included. She laughed and wiggled her fingers at the camera in a mischievous sort of wave with her other arm slung around a beaming and blushing Jasper.  
Destiny couldn't help but smile too, even though her chest felt tight.  
"You're right, Jasper" she whispered as she set the picture back in its place. "Pegasus does look a lot like her."  
Jasper nodded solemnly.  
Destiny continued to maneuver slowly throughout the room, examining the posters, clothes, and boom box in a somewhat trance.  
_This whole thing feels surreal,_ Destiny thought as she brushed her fingers across the blue bedspread as gingerly as though it would crumble to dust at the slightest touch.  
She spied a low table in the corner of the room that was shrouded in a faded bed sheet and quietly slipped over to uncover it. Removing the sheet revealed a miniaturized model of Ancient Greece. It consisted of everything from ancient monsters, to little versions of the Greek gods all scattered about milk-carton sized versions of Mt. Olympus and the Parthenon.  
"Wow" Destiny breathed.  
"Oh, I'd quite forgotten about that" Jasper exclaimed. "Your father made that RPG game for you mother when they first met in middle school. She was always fascinated with the Ancient Greeks and, being from Greece himself; Cyril had all the knowledge needed to recreate Rosalyn her own personal role player game" Jasper sighed with contentment. "The three of us used to play with that game for hours."  
Destiny trailed her fingers across a game piece fashioned to look like Hydra; the seven headed dragon of Greek Myths. "I'd like one of these" Destiny muttered more to herself then anything.  
Jasper laughed sadly. "Your father was actually going to make you one for your tenth birthday but, well, you know" his voice trailed off.  
"Yeah, I know" Destiny replied as she moved from the table and over to the bed again. "This was all my mom's" she added as she ran her finger's across the headboard her face full of longing as though she would feel her mother's touch somehow from the countless times her hands must have brushed the same spot. One other touch besides those frail seconds that Rosalyn Pegasus had held Destiny in her arms while she uttered her final words.  
Destiny choked back a sob.  
Her eyes slipped past the headboard and down to the bedside table where a small picture was resting. It was of two people and framed in pink with hearts and "true love" written across the top in curly gold.  
Destiny picked it up.  
The picture showed Rosalyn Pegasus, much older then she'd been in the photo with Jasper. She was tall and curvy with long legs and small feet. She leaned casually against a sea wall with the Boston skyline lighting up the horizon behind her. Rosalyn's hand was resting on the shoulder of a tall, pale young man with shaggy silver hair that hung partially in his red-brown eyes and a thin wisp of a moustache that curled above his smiling lips as he wound his own arm around Rosalyn's waist.  
"Dad" Destiny murmured. "They look so happy together" she added to Jasper.  
Jasper smiled that sad smile again. "Yeah, they were, very happy."  
Destiny didn't say anything else as she turned to set the picture back on the table. In doing so, she bumped the table and the drawer slide open slightly to reveal a partially exposed book.  
"Huh?" Destiny asked as she slipped her fingers into the crack of the drawer and yanked the book from its confines.  
"Oh, that's your mother's dream journal" Jasper explained, moving to stand beside her as he spoke "she used to write down all her dreams in that thing. Her Pink Book she called it."  
Destiny smiled "I'd like one these" she mused, caressing her fingers across the book's worn cover.  
Jasper smiled too "I thought you might" he said "me and Max-I mean Pegasus-were talking last night and he mentioned that you have a lot of strange and scary dreams."  
Destiny tensed; _how much had Pegasus told Jasper about Destiny's "dreams".  
_Destiny turned to face him.  
She stared directly into Jasper's emerald green irises.  
She scanned his brain quickly, at the pace of one frantically flipping through the pages of a book.  
"Destiny, what are you doing?" Jasper asked.  
"Huh? Oh, nothing" Destiny quickly replied.  
Good, he knew nothing.  
"Anyway, I went out this morning while you were asleep and bought this" Jasper continued, reaching into the pocket of his coat and pulling out a small purple book.  
"Your brother told me purple was your favorite so I thought this would be appropriate" he explained as he passed her the book.  
Destiny beamed "it's perfect" she exclaimed setting her mother's Pink Book down so as to accept her own Purple Book.  
"Thank you, Jasper" Destiny cried as she hugged the big man around the middle. Jasper looked slightly taken aback but pleased too for he returned her hug.  
"I'm glad I'm like my mother" Destiny whispered.  
Jasper cleared his throat and Destiny quickly let go.  
"Listen Des" Jasper explained "I don't think you've ever been to Boston before so, what do you say you and me go for a walk and I can give you a personal tour?"  
Destiny's face lit up from its original sad expression.  
"I'd love that!" she exclaimed.

_Knock, knock.  
_"Pegasus" Destiny called through the keyhole. "Open up. I brought you some dinner" she added, shifting the tray's position in her hands as she spoke. There was a pause and then the click of a door being unlocked and it swung open quite suddenly, with an eerie creak; so that it caused Destiny to fall forward slightly and stumble into the room, nearly losing the contents of the tray in the process. Righting herself, Destiny beheld Pegasus who was dressed the most casual she'd ever seen him: in jeans and a T-shirt rather than his usual khakis and dress shirts. He'd even yanked his hair back into a loose pony tail so that the Millennium Eye was completely exposed. Destiny couldn't help but cringe slightly at how creepy it looked lodged inside her big brother's eye socket.  
"Oh, thank you, Destiny" Pegasus said with a grin as he relieved Destiny of her burden of roast chicken and rice and took it over to his bed where he sat down and ate it over his lap. Destiny stood awkwardly in the doorway, not sure if she was welcome now or not.  
"You can come in" Pegasus called through a mouthful of rice and Destiny obliged, walking across the room and sitting on the bed beside her brother.  
Pegasus glanced at her out of the corner of his real eye. "How did gramps and gran handle the overalls?" he asked.  
Destiny glanced down at her outfit and shrugged. "They didn't say anything about it but boy, if looks could kill."  
Pegasus chuckled as he set down his fork and laid the tray aside so as to get to his feet.  
"What are you doing?" Destiny asked.  
Pegasus didn't respond right away. He instead walked over to a table at the other end of the room which was hidden under a large white sheet.  
"I have something to show you" he finally said and, with one swift motion, tore the sheet from the table to reveal at least forty colorfully painted playing cards.  
Destiny's mouth dropped and she sprung off the bed and across the room so as to better gape at her brother's handy work.  
"This is amazing" Destiny exclaimed as she gazed at the cards.  
"I should hope so" Pegasus said with a grin "these took me the whole day, after all."  
Destiny's eyes trailed down the line of beautifully detailed cards slowly soaking in each one's magnificence. There were knights and elves, robots and muses, dragons, and carnivorous plants. Anything you could think of; it was there on that table.  
"I've divided the cards into three separate categories" Pegasus explained "there are Monster Cards that summon creatures to the Field, there are Magic Cards that allows you to cast spells or beef up a Monster's fire power, and there are Trap Cards that can catch an opponent and hold them captive."  
"Sounds complicated" Destiny mused.  
Yes, it well be" Pegasus replied. "Of course, there's going to be a lot more in order for Duel Monsters to work. These are just a few early prototypes."  
Destiny looked back at her brother "Duel Monsters?" she asked.  
Pegasus nodded. "Yeah, that's what I decided to call it. I think it's appropriate."  
Destiny smiled. "Yeah it is."  
"And your job is to name them, if you remember" Pegasus added, ruffling his little sister's hair.  
Destiny gazed down at the cards; already titles for each one floating through her mind. She spied the Dark Magician amongst many others.  
Although that name was kind of dumb and she did have the option to rename him, Destiny decided against it. She found the name sort of suited the pointy hated man.  
Destiny looked back to her brother. "This is so exciting" she cried.  
Pegasus laughed. "Just you wait, Destiny. _This_ is only the beginning."

Wahoo! Duel Monsters has finally appeared ladies and gents and we're almost done with the intro chapters and we can get into the Season 0 plotline (yes, Destiny will be involved in that, albeit slightly.) And, don't worry. The Yugioh characters already mentioned will return and we have some new ones being introduced around the corner. So read and review. Tell me what ya think!


	16. Chapter 16

_**Chapter 16: "**__**Roses are red, violets are blue, I'm schizophrenic, and so am I."  
**__** ~Oscar Levant**_

_Voices whispered delicately with the flickers of frightened light. Voices like butterfly wings that tenderly brushed the petals of gloomy candle light. Its feeble attempts to light the wall are lost amongst the shadows of three people huddled together in the tiny room.  
"I tried speaking with Father" the deep voice of the man called to the shadows. "He will not listen."  
The women's face was scattered with light so that her pursed lips can be seen. "I would have suspected as much, Odion" Ishizu said, solemnly. "Father is a man of tradition. He shall not break the ancient ways."  
"But, must things be this way?" a small voice from the floor calls up. "Is it not dangerous?" her throat was full of cotton as though she was about to cry.  
Selket got up from her reclining position on the floor and moved towards the man who had spoken first. "Odion, why must he do it alone?" she asked the man.  
Odion did not reply, only shook his head.  
Just then, the door flew open with a bang that bounced against the shadows and startled the candle light.  
The three children jump with alarm.  
"You're talking about it again, aren't you!" a voice screeched from the doorway "behind my back in low hushed voices as if I'm too ignorant to understand!"  
"Marik, that is not it at all" Ishizu cried as she leapt into a standing position and attempted to go to her brother who was shrouded in dark.  
His silhouette evaded her welcoming arms.  
"Leave me be" he cried to her. "Why must things be this way? Why must I go through the Ritual? Why must I be forced to remain in this cursed hole for the rest of my days? Why? Why? Why?" Marik screamed as he kicked the grubby stone wall as hard as his skinny legs could muster. He stumbled back into the opposite wall from the force of his own leg power and crashed out of murky view. And then the sobs could be heard.  
Ishizu stood in the doorway, a look of forlorn in her sapphire colored eyes as she surveyed the sight of her brother sobbing into his clenched knees.  
Selket slid from the bed, as well; and goes to the door to hug her brother and suppress his tears. The man called Odion follows and stands over the twins. His moss-colored eyes are tight with grief against his dark face. He looked upon the brother and sister, who entwine with one another to grip to the other's sorrow, and those eyes hold a sense of protection, of servitude, of loyalty. Odion dropped to his knees and patted Marik's shoulder. Marik's wails subsided to whimpers and he leaned forward into the man's firm chest, tugging Selket with him. Odion smiled but his eyes remained cold with tense emotion as his arms surround the tiny children and he gripped them tightly. Ishizu dropped to the floor and draped her own hands across Odion's shoulders like a blanket to warm his icy, determined stare. She leaned into her younger brother and sister and her smooth hands softly caress their identical blonde locks.  
They sat in silence with only the sound of shadows and tired light for comfort from fear._

Destiny poised the tip of her violet blue pen over a page of her Purple Book so as to read over her account of the latest Vision. She was surprised at how detailed she'd been able to describe what she'd just witnessed. It was as though she'd been watching and writing at the same time. Her Visions sort of just stuck with her, like they were burned across her brain, after they occurred.  
Destiny let out a sigh as she let the pen slip from her fingers and roll down the sloping crease in the page.  
This Vision had wafted into her soul in a dream the previous night. She was glad it had been when she was asleep. Her greatest fear was to witness a Vision in front of Jasper or her grandparents. What would they say? What would the think? Worst of all; what would they assume?  
Destiny squeezed her eyes shut so as to chase away the thought and then buried herself further in the puffy covers of her mother's bed, letting the Purple Book slide from her lap in the process.  
After a lot of begging and pleading, Jasper had snuck Destiny the key to her mother's room and Destiny had secretly snuck all of her belongings into the room.  
She found sleeping in her mother's bed far more comfortable anyways.  
Destiny glanced over to the RPG table in the corner of the room from her peep hole in her blanket cocoon and thought of Marik and the other others.  
So they had a brother too? Odion was his name. Evidently he wasn't fated to possess an Item as Destiny could not connect to his soul (much to her frustration). All the same, the Vision perplexed her. What was troubling Ishizu and Odion? And what was the Ritual that Marik seemed to fear so greatly?  
Destiny clamped her hands over her head and buried herself still further under the covers, trying to think straight but her mind was a jumbled mess as it had been for nearly a year now.  
Finally, Destiny was beginning to get stuffy so she thrashed off the covers, slid to the floor, and into her puffy purple slippers.  
"Geez" Destiny muttered as she massaged her throbbing temples. Another negative to the Visions was the nearly unbearable headaches that always followed suit.  
"I wonder why I'm only having Visions of Marik, Selket, and Ishizu" Destiny wondered aloud as she snagged a brush through her messy, metallic-colored hair.  
What she really wanted was another Vision of that Ryou Bakura kid. A tremor lurched up Destiny's spine at the thought of the reflection and the faint echoes of its laugh that still clung to the back of her mind. Destiny bit her lip. She was worried about him after all.  
With dreams and sleep no longer wrapping around her mind Destiny made her way out the door and down the hall. Making sure to lock the former securely and slipping the key into her nightgown pocket.  
Destiny hummed an old Madonna song; she'd been listening to in her mother's room before dropping off the night before, as she skipped down the steps, brush still struggling through her metal-colored mane.  
However, once in the first floor hall she stopped her humming and skipping because a new sound was wafting from under the partly ajar kitchen door mixing with the aroma of blueberry muffins. Someone was laughing.  
Destiny slowed her pace and gave the closed door an inquisitive look.  
She knew the laugh, but why…?  
Curious, Destiny slipped in the gap between the door and the wall and into the brightly lit kitchen.  
Pegasus was sitting at the table with a mug of coffee in one hand and a worn comic book in the other. His eyes maneuvered the faded pages of the book while taking another sip of his drink and allowing a swallow before bursting into a fit of laughter again.  
Destiny lingered in the half closed door. She cleared her throat pointedly.  
"Good morning, Destiny" Pegasus greeted, wiping his mouth as he spoke.  
"Hey, Destiny, sleep well?" Jasper inquired with a smile as he turned from the oven and set a platter of steaming muffins on the table beside Pegasus.  
Destiny nodded to Jasper's question but she was still looking at Pegasus and his comics.  
Pegasus noticed the stare and glanced up from the comic again.  
"What?" he demanded.  
Destiny shrugged.  
"Nothing, it's just I don't remember you laughing that hard since well…" her voice trailed off.  
Pegasus smiled. "Well, that may be but you don't have to look at me like I have two heads though" he said and Jasper chuckled.  
"Have a muffin Destiny, baked them myself" he added, yanking off his oven mitts.  
Destiny obliged, sitting down and selecting a blueberry filled deliciousness from the pan.  
"So, what's so funny anyways" Destiny asked as Pegasus, who'd gone back to his comics, starting chuckling again.  
"It's just these old comics I found in my room" Pegasus replied, turning the page as he spoke "I used to love these TOON World issues when I was your age. My, I'd forgotten how funny they were" he added.  
Curious, Destiny leaned forward in her seat so as to peer at the book. The comic depicted a wiry black cat with a wide goofy smile and crazy goggle eyes being chased by a police dog who was trying to smack him upside the head with an abnormally sized hammer. At the end of the panel the dog smashed a huge hole in the ground just barely missing the crazy cat that then pulled an eye ball jiggling face to taunt the flustered hound.  
Destiny couldn't help but start howling at the Krazy Cat's face.  
"I told you" Pegasus cried a little breathlessly as he'd started laughing as well.  
"Oh, I remember these" Jasper exclaimed glancing over Pegasus's shoulder to peruse the comic as well "they're hysterical."  
Pegasus glanced down at the Krazy Cat and Police Dog his expression thoughtful "you know these would make for some interesting Duel Monsters Cards."  
Destiny, who'd been taking a swig of her orange juice, chocked slightly at this remark "TOON Cards?" she asked while Jasper glanced on in confusion.  
"What's Duel Monsters?" he asked.  
Pegasus answered Jasper's question first "it's the card game I designed based on an Ancient Egyptian Ritual and I think TOON Cards would make some very cool cards, Destiny"  
Destiny shrugged "I don't know, big bro. Aren't Duel Monsters supposed to be scary?"  
"Not necessarily" Pegasus replied "Duel Monsters can be scary, pretty, silly, gross, whatever, just each one is one of a kind."  
Destiny took another long drink of her orange juice through pursed lips.  
_One of a kind…  
_Destiny suddenly slammed her drained glass down on the table, a thought occurring to her "Pegasus, I have a request" she stated.  
Pegasus rose an eyebrow.  
"Name it."  
"If you're going to make more cards then I want you to make me a stash of original cards; one's that no one else will have. Each one will be one of a kind "Destiny explained enthusiastically.  
Pegasus whistled "that's a pretty steep request, Des. I don't know; you'd have an unfair advantage over the other players in the game" he stated with a knowing smile.  
"But I'll be the sister of the man who_ invented_ the game, Pegasus I'd have an unfair advantage anyways" Destiny whined.  
"Touché" Pegasus admitted, snapping his finger at her "all the same, if I give you original cards their might be others that will demand I do the same."  
"Don't be so paranoid" Destiny cried "come on Pegasus! Please, please, please" she added while making the world's biggest puppy eyes.  
Jasper laughed "Come on Max, how can you say no to that face?" he asked  
Pegasus sighed but it was with a smile "alright Destiny, I'll make you a set of original cards" he finally said.  
Destiny squealed with delight and rushed around the table so as to tackle her brother in a suffocating hug.  
"Yay, thank you Pegasus, thank you so much!" she screamed as she released her brother and began dancing around the room.  
But she was interrupted, however, when the door slammed open with a bang and Warren Mage stalked into the room.  
"What's all this screaming" he demanded, his nostrils flaring.  
Destiny cowered under the look he gave her "nothing Grandpa, just doing a happy dance" she replied, her voice becoming small and meek.  
"Well, no more 'happy dancing' " Warren snapped, framing his words in finger quotations "your grandmother and I are trying read over our latest cases."  
"Sorry, Grandpa" Destiny muttered, trying her best to not let her eye slip to the floor.  
"Fine, now why don't you go do something that involves you being seen but not heard" Warren Mage spat before turning on his heel and stomping out of the kitchen.  
There was a moment of awkward silence but then the teapot started whistling which caused Jasper to fly over to the stove to retrieve it.  
"Who put leeches in his underpants?" Destiny asked as she slid back into her seat with a huff of indignation.  
Pegasus chuckled while Destiny observed Jasper fumble with the tea bags.  
"Jasper where's Misty?"  
Jasper gave her a slight smile "she got held up at her son's house so your grand-folks put me on tea duty" he explained as he clumsily sloshed the chocolate brown liquid into twin cups "be right back" he added as he staggered out of the room under the weight of his tray.  
"Let's pray he doesn't drop that" Pegasus murmured as he and Destiny watched him go "Nana would pitch a fit if the carpet stained."  
"Why? She wouldn't clean it herself anyways" Destiny inquired which caused Pegasus to laugh again "now, what kind of cards do you want for your deck?" he added.  
Destiny thought for a second and her thoughts drifted to the RPG table upstairs.  
And she knew.  
Pegasus" she said "I want an Olympian Mythology Deck"

"So, this is it?" Pegasus asked as he gazed down at the RPG table. Destiny nodded with enthusiasm. "Yep, our dad made this for our mom."  
Pegasus picked up a figurine of Zeus; Olympian King of the Gods, with a thoughtful expression.  
"So, you want Monsters and Magic Cards based on the stories of Greek Mythology?" he asked.  
Destiny nodded again.  
"That sounds fantastic, of course we're going to have to do some research" Pegasus said as he set the figurine back on the table "after all, the Shadow Games ended before there was Greek influence" he added.  
"Okay" Destiny said and then she remembered "Pegasus! I almost forgot; I had another Vision last night."  
Pegasus stiffened, Destiny didn't blame him.  
"Of what?" he asked warily.  
Destiny thought for a moment "to be honest, it didn't make much sense but, here, I wrote it down after I woke up" she explained as she crossed over to the bed and got the Purple Book.  
Pegasus followed her with his eyes and they widened at the sight of the crumpled and lopsided sheets "Destiny have you been sleeping in here?" he asked.  
Destiny bit her lip "yes" she whispered in a small voice "but don't tell Nana and Grandpa; they'll be furious with me. And they might fire Jasper for giving me the spare key" she added.  
Pegasus nodded with a grim smile of understanding.  
"Of course" he replied before flipping open the Purple Book and perusing Destiny's writing.  
"What's the 'Ritual'?" he asked after a pause.  
Destiny shrugged "beats me. But Marik seemed awfully upset about it."  
Pegasus glanced down at the pages again, his brow furrowed as he mulled the information over.  
"Well, I don't think this Ritual has anything to do with the Millennium Items" he finally said "probably just some family trauma. But all the same look into this more if you can."  
Destiny pursed her lips.  
"Alright" she replied.  
Pegasus set the Purple Book down on the bedside table beside Rosalyn Pegasus's Pink Book which he gave a delicate stroke with his hand before jamming them into his pockets and turning towards the door.  
"Get dressed, Destiny" he said as he headed into the hall "we're going to the library."

A little over an hour later, Destiny skipped along the brick sidewalks of downtown Boston dressed in black shorts, sneakers, and an orange T-shirt with matching bows tied into her tangled mess of hair with Pegasus and Jasper in tow.  
"Say goodbye, as we dance with the devil tonight. Don't you dare look at him in the eye, as we dance with the devil tonight" she sang aloud as she pranced across the uneven walk.  
"Do you like Breaking Benjamin?" Jasper called from a few paces behind.  
Destiny turned to give him a dazzling smile "I love them!" she replied and then turned back around and went back to her skipping and singing.  
"I won't last long, in this world so wrong" she bellowed, her voice more of a shout then a sing.  
Pegasus joined in at that point and as they were singing the last round of the chorus they were approaching the cryptic cream colored building that was the Boston Public Library.  
"Holy shoot" Destiny cried as she leapt up the steps with Jasper and Pegasus at her heels "this place is huge."  
Jasper chuckled "you'd better believe it, kid; the Boston Public Library is the first large library to open to the public."  
"Neat" Destiny murmured as she examined a large black statue of a robed…  
Was it a man or a woman? Destiny couldn't tell; that was seated in a stone chair beside the front door.  
"Come on, kiddo" Pegasus called to her, tapping her playfully on the top of the head.  
Destiny turned just in time to follow Jasper and Pegasus through the massive double doors.

The inside of the Boston Public Library was the redefinition of huge. Its ancient splendor of beautiful carved pillars, lined with book after book seemed to scream billions of information and secrets.  
It was mildly overwhelming.  
"Wow!" Destiny exclaimed.  
"Shhh" Pegasus and Jasper both hissed.  
Destiny clamped a hand to her mouth "oops" she whispered "sorry".  
"Now, then" Pegasus glanced around as the climbed the spiral staircase to the second floor so as to get a better view "we need to find some books on Greek Mythology."  
Jasper snorted "good luck" he said "it'll be like looking for a needle in a haystack."  
_Idea, _Destiny said in her head.  
Pegasus's eyes shifted to her in alarm; since coming to their grandparent's house they hadn't used the telepathic link once.  
_What kind of idea? _Pegasus asked in the same manor.  
Destiny's only response was to tap her right eye in reference.  
Pegasus smiled.  
"Hey, Jasper" Destiny called. "Look at me" Destiny then leaned dangerously over the edge of the carved balcony.  
"Oh good God, Destiny; don't do that" Jasper exclaimed, rushing to her side. Pegasus took advantage of Jasper's distraction to lift his hair curtain. The Millennium Eye glowed brightly as it scanned the row after rows of books.  
"Don't go suicidal on me, kid" Jasper muttered, turning back around in an awkward stagger as he was gripping Destiny around the waist. Pegasus quickly dropped his hair.  
"Perhaps we should ask someone were the books we're looking for are" he added as he deposited Destiny at her brother's feet.  
Pegasus shook his head.  
"That won't be necessary, I know where they are."  
Jasper's eyes widened.  
"How?" he asked-no demanded  
Pegasus smiled.  
"Call it intuition."

"You know, I shall never understand the concept of marrying your relatives. Aren't the kids usually screwed up?" Destiny stated as she turned the page of a copy of the Odyssey.  
"That's what I call desperate" Jasper replied without glancing up from his copy of the Iliad.  
"Or a lack of proper breeding material" Pegasus added as he leafed through _Monsters and Myth of Ancient Greece_.  
"No wonder Hephaestus is so messed up looking" Destiny muttered.  
"Man the Trojans were stupid" Jasper snorted "sure, big wooden horse that the Greeks left as a present. It's _so_ not a trap."  
Destiny snickered.  
"Okay" Pegasus said, setting the book down on the table between him and Destiny "what cards do you want for your deck?" he asked.  
Destiny raised her eyes to the ceiling.  
"I want cards of all of the strong monsters like Hydra and the Chimera. Also ones of the Twelve Olympians. Oh, and maybe one of the Titan Lord Kronos."  
"You drive a hard bargain, Des" Jasper commented, finally looking up from the Iliad.  
"It's okay, Jasper" Pegasus replied, softening Destiny's scowl as he ruffled her hair. He then glanced at his watch. "Perhaps we should bail. Our grand-folks will kill us if we're late for dinner."  
Destiny remembered her grandfather's outburst from that morning.  
"Probably a good idea" she agreed.  
"Right then" Pegasus exclaimed, getting to his feet, he began sweeping the books spread out about them into his arms "let's go check these out" he held out his hand for Jasper's Iliad.  
Jasper smiled sheepishly "if you don't mind, I think I'll borrow this for a bit; it's quite fascinating."  
Destiny suppressed a smile.  
_It probably reminds him of the games he used to play with our parents, _she said to Pegasus.  
Pegasus nodded solemnly  
_I see.  
_Destiny could understand it; she wanted an Olympian Deck after all.  
She wanted a part of her mother to be a part of the new life her and Pegasus were going to build together.

The whispers of the waves, the crisp clarity of its salty scent; a flavor so unfamiliar and yet brought out traces of long forgotten times of writhing foam and sandy toes. The black fingers of a blood colored sun stretched across the harbor's landscape as though clinging to land before it drowned into the crashing dark purple depths. The shadows clawed at two figures strolling side by side along the shore, raking across their features and tousling their tangled hair; paling it with their touch so that it seemed to glow with the flavor of the oncoming night.  
Pegasus and Destiny stood side by side, their hands locked and chained by the inevitable dark. There were no words between them; whether spoken aloud or not.  
The chill of a violet wind nipped playfully at Destiny's bare feet and her fingers traced flashes of numb from the mid-October evening.  
October; the month in which they always did what they were about to do.  
Pegasus held the annual ritual whenever October rolled around. There was no specific date, there never was, because for both of them that black, stormy month had always blurred into one seething mass of ferocious grief.  
For it was in October that Cecelia had died.  
Destiny glanced up at her brother and glimpsed flashes of falling tears blaring through the wisps of his thin metal colored hair.  
He took a deep breath and crushed Destiny's tiny fingers in his own baseball-mitt sized palm.  
"You ready?" he dared to whisper.  
Destiny nodded.  
They walked down to the water's edge.  
The rift of land and sea; it seeped soft white foam across the grey stones. Smoothed over and perfect from the constant dance of the waves.  
Destiny's toes poised at the tip of the water and she once again turned to her brother in anticipation.  
Wordlessly, Pegasus reached into the pocket of his dress pants and took out a soft folded mesh of blood colored velvet.  
He held the object aloft and, like a bird unfurling its wings, the rose lightened and trembled to life; its petals splitting into a full shine of dark red that was burned by the dying sun.  
It flickered like a fading candle against the speckled sky, the thorns stood out in deep black perfection against the numerous shades of purple.  
Every year it was the same; October and they sent a rose out to sea.  
No matter where they were.  
It was the same.  
Pegasus raised his hand in gesture of release and the rose leapt from his grasp and spiraled skyward. It bobbed and swirled like falling snow; rising with the wind but dying to meet the gaping mouth of the waves. It alighted in a delicate sleep across the swell of swollen salty shades of dark black blue, were it rolled and bobbed before finally crashing out of sight.  
Pegasus raised his hand in a silent salute.  
"Wait for us Cecelia" he said "we're coming to for you."


End file.
